


Silent Intersection

by eretree



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Multi, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2020-01-31 11:40:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 66,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18590533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eretree/pseuds/eretree
Summary: *Twice's Sana and rookie girl group F.A.I.R.Y.'s leader Dahyun can't stand one another and they are forced to tour together.A story where Dahyun, Tzuyu and Momo were all eliminated in Sixteen and never debuted with Twice, but instead formed another girl group that struggles to find it's own place in the industry.





	1. Primitive Notion

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by my constant nightmares of Momo not being added to twice after she was eliminated  
> this is a what if.  
> what if things didn't turn out like they did and what if Twice wasn't the Twice we know now?

Dahyun and Sana hated each other. Sana had spent the entirety of her career avoiding the other girl, which was hard, since she was in the same band as her best friend, Momo, but she tried really hard because she wanted to never see her face again. And what Sana wanted, Sana usually got. She hated the younger girl with every part of her body. And yet she couldn’t stop talking about Dahyun. It was her fault after all, everything bad that has ever happened in Sana’s life was her fault after all. At least that is what one would think after a single conversation with Sana where the main topic was Dahyun.  
She despised the girl.

And Dahyun, on the other hand, felt exactly the same. Just the thought of the girl made her roll her eyes, others often joked that it became a natural reaction for her now, just like licking her lips when she got nervous. And just like Sana, Dahyun also felt that the older girl was the root of everything bad that had ever happened to her. But it hadn’t always been like that. Believe it or not, there used to be time and place where the pair was able to just coexist and they were able to be in the same room without it exploding.

It all started in Sixteen. At first, everything was going great, I mean, they haven’t really met before the first assignment was finished, but after Dahyun saw Sana making Vietnamese spring rolls for JYP, she felt drawn to the girl and seeing the older girl take glimpses of a smile stuck on Dahyun’s face long after her performance, the younger couldn’t help but to approach her. And immediately they clicked. One small “nice stage” was enough for them to continue talking for what felt like eternity, or more like long enough so they both missed the van to their dorm.

If you listened to them after that day all they had to say were compliments about the other and excitement about their foreseeable friendship. And if you listened to them now, six years later? Well… nobody listens to them anymore. At least not when they complain about each other. Which is unfortunate for them because all they talk about is how much they find each other annoying. About how much they can’t stand each other. How much they hate each other. Momo often asks herself how they manage to hate each other for so long, but after all hate is the strongest emotion in the world, right? The only thing strong enough to survive all of this.

 

 

So there they were, sitting during an interview, Dahyun in between F.A.I.R.Y.’s other two members, Tzuyu on her right, and Momo on her left. There they were asked the same question again. The same as always. It quickly got annoying to all of them but mostly to the young leader who, as she would put it, should have gotten used to it by now.  
But still, the same question about their connection to Twice, the group all of them should have debuted with, still bothered Dahyun.  
“I know, you get asked that all the time but...,” the host started, Dahyun visibly annoyed before he even mouthed the rest of the question, “which members of Twice do you feel closest to?” There it was, the dreaded question that always got asked and the one that was easiest to answer since they expected it to come.  
Tzuyu answered first: “For me, it has to be Chaeyoung but I’m also close with Sana and Mina.” She said with a smile as bright as ever and a shy, quiet giggle that followed shortly after. Their promotions have been going on for a while and Tzuyu still got nervous about talking sometimes and it was well known how much of her free time Tzuyu spent to perfect her Korean. Dahyun looked her way with a reassuring smile and patted her arm a little bit too strong so Tzuyu whined audibly which made the host laugh.

“Why those three,” the host said again, “I know you went to school with Chaeyoung, but the other two?” The host was curious, or he just wanted to spin the question in the other way since it _was_ the most commonly asked question, either way Dahyun didn’t care about it, she just wanted to skip it altogether and move onto the next question. But she knew better than to show any kind of annoyance or it would drag even longer than it should have. They were there to promote their music and themselves and not the members of some other group. Especially not them. Ugh, how much it bothered her, how much she hated that they would constantly get compared to them, that they would constantly get asked about them. She wished they were able to show more of who they are so they could connect with fans, at least that’s what management told them to do in order to boost their sales.  
“We all had the same Korean course when we entered the company,” Tzuyu said as she could feel Dahyun’s grip on her arm, and could see the girl’s smile wider than ever.  
“I remember failing the same test as Mina once, so we studied together a lot. In the night, the mornings, during practice, everytime. It was easy because we were forced to communicate in Korean since it was the only thing we both understood,” the youngest continued and Dahyun was happy that she focused on Mina instead on Sana.

“And she had so many interesting things to say so it naturally motivated me to improve.” Both Momo and Dahyun looked at their member approvingly and nodded their heads in sync. “As for Sana, she is just an easy person to like, especially considering she always used to hang out with Mina and Momo.”  
That part made Dahyun literally laugh out loud. She felt the glares from the other members so she played it off and turned towards Momo as she rolled her eyes.  
“I never talked to you during Sixteen because you three were always together,” she said and playfully hit Momo.  
“And look at us now,” the oldest simply added to avoid going any further.

Dahyun was now convinced that the question would drag on forever. She could feel herself getting lost in thought. She remembered to look at her members from time to time, so nobody would notice how uninterested she was in the conversation. It was exactly like she was taught, smile and look at the person talking, nod your head from time to time. Everything about it annoyed her but she knew how much she wanted it and she knew how much Momo and Tzuyu wanted it. But what annoyed her the most was that what she was thinking about were the members of Twice. Sana to be more exact. It killed her that she didn’t have to deal with this, constantly being asked about the F.A.I.R.Y. members.  
It killed her that she had to act like she doesn’t hate her. It killed her that the host started praising Twice members. No it didn’t actually. It killed her that he started praising Sana after Momo answered that Mina and her felt like family. She didn’t understand how nobody could see through her act. It killed her to be the only one to truly get how much Sana is really evil and how fake her smile is. She just wanted to scream and open their eyes so they could see.  
She was quickly awoken from her thoughts when she realized that it would soon be her turn to answer the question.

“So Dahyun, you’ve been smiling throughout the whole time, surely you must feel strongly about it,”  
_oh you don’t know how much,_ she thought to herself after she felt how much her cheeks started hurting from all the smiling.  
“Chaeyoung for me too,” she started and looked around the room while nodding her head slightly, the smile still stuck on her face, “and Jihyo always gives me the best advice on how to take care of my girls.” She felt satisfied with her answer, after all she had practiced it a lot, and I mean a lot, of times. She wasn’t satisfied when one of the crew members signaled that the interview was coming to an end, though. They didn’t even get an opportunity to talk about their music a lot. The only thing that a fan would get from the interview would be that Dahyun used to oversleep all the time but is now the one to wake the other members early in the mornings, that they got their name from the magical creatures and no, not all of the fairies are actually small and that Momo used to be scared about singing, or that Tzuyu’s favourite smell is lavender and that they apparently like Twice.

“So not Sana and Mina like the other two said before,” the host said and Momo and Tzuyu already pictured Dahyun rolling her eyes before answering the question.  
But their leader just sighed before collecting herself. She left out a small giggle and shook her head. “I never got to spend enough time with them, but I have met them though, and I have the upmost respect for them,” she followed that with the cutest smile, or what she would call it if Sana was the one doing it, _the fakest, most forced smile in the entire world._  
After that, the interview was soon to end and the three girls said their goodbyes before they left the studio.

 

 

On the other side of the city a different story went on. Their leader Jihyo was called in for an urgent meeting with the upper management in the morning and as soon as she returned and entered the room the remaining five girls gathered around her and smothered her with questions. “What’s going on?” “What was so urgent?” “Are you okay, what did they want?” “Why was the meeting so long, Jihyo?”  
“Stop it! All of you!” their leader said. Jihyo sure did appreciate their concern but her members’ screaming next to her always got on her nerves.  
“We’re going on a small promo tour with F.A.I.R.Y. in two weeks,” she said.

You could look around the room and see all the different reactions to it, Chaeyoung being the most excited of all of them, Mina’s indifference was as present as ever and Sana you could not possibly read. At all. Was she excited, was she angry about it, did she even care? Jihyo did not have a single clue. She figured she would be excited to see Momo again and she thought she would also rather die than be in the same room as Kim Dahyun. So she was a bit of a mystery. She noticed the tension in the room so she followed it up: “It’s not long, only two weeks.”  
“And what’s in it for us?” said Nayeon who until then just stood there with her arms crossed hoping Jihyo was just joking. “I mean, we were supposed to be on a break then, it’s not like we get much of those...”  
What she said was complete truth and everyone in the room new it, but Jeongyeon agreed with her the most as she showed it by resting her arm on the older girl’s shoulder. The girls have been going on tour after tour, the company sending them to multiple different variety shows, on top of that they had commercials to film, songs to record music videos to do, award shows to attend and all other stuff. Without even mentioning practicing, working out or, you know, sleeping, eating and other normal human activities, like breathing.

“Look, it’s only a few fansigns and variety shows, and two concerts. We’ve done much more before, haven’t we? And we get to help the company.”  
“We need a break,” Jeongyeon said.  
“It’s not like it was a request, okay?” Jihyo said and sighed out of annoyance.

This time Jeongyeon started speaking before Jihyo could continue: “What do you mean not a request? I don’t think they have anyone as successful in the company, at least they could show us some respect and request stuff like this if they don’t even give us high quality music videos we deserve!” When she started speaking the room fell quiet and they all listened. Because when Jeongyeon starts talking about stuff like that, when she starts complaining about stuff like that, you know it is serious. The girl, despite all her hard work and all the effort put into the group, rarely complained about their treatment inside the company, even though all of them were aware that they bring in the most revenue and get the least budget on their music videos, they rarely complained.  
And Jeongyeon complained the least, in fact she was usually seen praising all of their hard work and telling the others that they need to work harder and they would be noticed. But I guess everyone has their limits and everyone’s buttons are pushed differently.

“As I was saying,” Jihyo started again looking at her oldest two members, “I managed to convince them to try a new sound with us in exchange for this.”

“So I won’t have to fry my voice trying to sound a few octaves higher than it should?” said Nayeon.

“I guess it’s your lucky day,” Jeongyeon said, still bitter about the whole thing.

 

 

As the night fell and Twice members all got into their rooms, Sana felt unable to sleep. She shifted in her bed which lately felt uneasy. She couldn’t decide if she felt too hot or too cold or what even was happening, why couldn’t she sleep. She was tired for sure. So she did what she always did when she couldn’t sleep. She went to the kitchen to get herself a cup of tea before she started stretching in their shared living room. Just as she started pouring the water inside the cup a familiar voice greeted her.  
  
“Why are you not sleeping Park Sana?” Jihyo said as she put an arm around Sana’s waist. The younger girl likely came back home from one of her intense workout sessions. They were hard and tiring but she had to set a standard for others after all.  
Sana shot a quick smile to her, clearly remembering the time a fan tried to compliment her and her ability to speak Korean and called her Kim Sana, which bothered the young woman as she would never, ever take the name Kim. To her it was awful enough to be in the same company as _her_ , the woman she despised and it was awful enough to get a glance of her if she so happened to be waiting for Momo every once in a year when she had some free time. But to have a nickname and to share a name with her, no she would never stand for it. So she quickly corrected the fan and said that she prefers Park Sana and hugged Jihyo making all Onces go crazy.  
  
“I think I am excited,” she simply said.

“Your girl keeping you up at night?” Jihyo said after taking a large sip of water from the glass Sana poured her. She gave her a perplexed look and Jihyo felt the need to explain it further, “your girlfriend, Sana, rings any bell?” she said.  
Sana was dating some girl she met at a gym for some time now, 7 months if I recall correctly, but the relationship never got any serious. They were really into each other and enjoyed each other’s company but it had never been something Sana would consider telling anyone outside of twice. And the other girl, Sindy? Shimmy? Something like that, it’s not like the relationship was serious enough for me to know the name. Well the other girl was aware of that, and she felt the same.

“Oh yeah,” she said and giggled, “I get what you meant.”

“Just tell me what’s bothering you so we can go to sleep,” Jihyo said while shaking her head. Sana took a deep breath and stayed silent for a couple of seconds, trying to collect her own thoughts.

“I just don’t know how to feel about seeing Momo again,” she started, “I obviously love her and can’t wait to see her, but I just...”  
“Think it would be awkward?” Jihyo finished that for her, “It’s natural, you haven’t seen her in so long and now she’s touring with Dah- uhm, the girl you hate, and -”  
“Not everything is about her Jihyo, you know I don’t care about her,” Sana said, “this is only about Momo.”  
The younger of the two leaned against the table as if she was trying to find a comfortable position to listen.  
“Okay, so what about Momo?”  
  
“We haven’t talked in so long and it’s mainly my fault because I never have time.”  
  
“But you two always talk when you can.”  
  
“I just feel so out of loop and there is so much we haven’t talked about, I’m not sure where we stand or if we still are as close as before,” Sana said and let out a sigh as a frown formed on her face. She blinked at Jihyo before giving her a pouty smile to let her friend know that she’s okay.

It was true Momo, Sana and Mina haven’t seen each other ever since Momo’s debut, which was about half a year ago. And with Twice’s tours and award shows and video shoots, and photo shoots and this and that and this and that, they haven’t been able to speak properly during that time. So she was nervous about them meeting again because she loved the girl and she was scared that Momo didn’t love her anymore, maybe she was scared of being replaced and maybe she was even more scared of being replaced with _her,_ scared that whatever she was saying about her to Momo would eventually convince her to walk away from Sana’s life. But she knew Momo, her friend, wouldn’t do that to her, no matter what Dahyun said about Sana, Momo wouldn’t just replace her, right?

“People don’t just change that quickly, you know?”

“But she might be a totally different person, she might have started hating me.”

“So if you think Momo could be someone different, maybe Dahyun changed too?” Jihyo said.

Sana rolled her eyes and shook her head.  
“You are right, Jihyo, people don’t just change that quickly,” she said and put away the cup of tea she finished while talking to the older girl.

“Have you watched their latest interview?” Jihyo asked, “I’ll send you the link, I really think you should watch it.”  
Sana nodded to make Jihyo know that she is very much open to that. She hugged the girl before the younger disappeared into the bathroom.

And after that Sana walked back to the room she shared with Mina and Chaeyoung, plugged in her headphones and clicked on the link. She got through the whole interview, only waking Chaeyoung once as she apparently scoffed very loudly when Dahyun attempted to show off her sexy side while stroking her elbow seductively. She would have skipped that part or honestly every single part that involved Dahyun, but she loved the other two girls too much for that and she missed them too much to do it.  
So she had to suffer through watching _her_ on the screen.  
Later on, she fell asleep thinking about how fake and forced the smile of the girl she despised was, she fell asleep completely forgetting about stretching. Or stopping the video being played. Or turning off autoplay.  
And when she woke up she could see Chaeyoung crouching over her with a big smirk on her face just like she was waiting for Sana to wake up so she could tease her.  
“I took a picture of this for the next time you complain about her again,” the youngest said. And when Sana looked at her phone she finally noticed that she was almost at the end of the 2 hour long compilation of a very familiar person’s rapping skills.

“This day couldn’t start any worse.”

 

 

But it could start worse. And it did for Dahyun. You see, she was supposed to be awake for at least an hour and a half by now, so you could understand the panic that went through her entire body as she checked the time on her phone. To be honest when you wake up you usually always feel that you are late, it’s just that thing inside of you that lets you know you overslept. So she was already panicked before, but when she checked the time, what she felt wasn’t panic, or shock, it was pure disappointment. In herself, her abilities, her skills, you name it, Dahyun was disappointed in it. Which didn’t sound like her, she was known as a confident person, she had to be one if she proudly did her eagle dance every opportunity she got. She knew what worked and what didn’t. And waking up late surely didn’t work.  
_How am I ever going to be a good leader if I can’t even wake up on time?_

She shot up from her bed, changed from her pyjamas into the first pair of pants she could find and a t-shirt that wasn’t covered in Tzuyu’s dog’s hair and almost ran to the kitchen in order to prepare breakfast for F.A.I.R.Y. Their promotions have been running for a while and now they had also added rehearsals for their upcoming tour, and practices and photo shoots and every other activity JYPE managed to get them. It was tiring but still, they all wanted more, so they were very grateful, even if it meant getting up almost at dawn in order to get through the complete schedule.

“Good morning Dahyun,” Tzuyu and Momo said almost in unison.

“Good morning,” their leader replied absolutely ignoring that they had already made breakfast and that they are already awake and she didn’t have to do anything besides sit down and eat with them. She started opening drawers to look for pots in which she could cook. After she found the perfect one she opened the fridge to search for some vegetables to put inside. She stared at the open fridge for some time and then closed it and turned towards the girls.

“You’re awake...” she said as she started putting the pot into its original place,

“And you cooked breakfast,” neither of that sounding as a question but rather as a statement of shock.

“We heard you having trouble sleeping last night, so we let you sleep in,” Momo said, “don’t worry, Tzuyu cooked so it actually is edible.”  
Dahyun was very grateful for her girls and how much they helped her and each other. She barely remembered having a nightmare and she most definitely couldn’t remember the last time she had one. She sat down at the table and started eating. Momo slid one yogurt across the table, obviously keeping it for Dahyun to eat.  
“We woke up earlier anyway, so don’t worry about it,” said Tzuyu.

They ate for a while and the table was rather silent, apart from utensils touching the plates and Momo’s fingers drumming against the chair besides her. Not a lot of words were spoken but Tzuyu and Dahyun looked at each other, both knowing that Momo’s excitement early in the morning annoyed the living hell out of them. And when they shot a look at Momo’s direction she understood what they were telling her without them saying a word. She didn’t listen though, but instead returned them a big, bright smile at which Tzuyu rolled her eyes, while Dahyun ignored it and smiled by herself.  
She could go on an on about the smallest things imaginable, like what colour did the neighbours painted the roof this time or about the car that forgot to go at the green light so she thought the driver died until she saw her take off at the next one.

“It was really hilarious, I tell you! I spent the next five minutes watching and waiting for green light to turn on so I could see if she would start driving. She looked okay, but she wasn’t really moving and I could see someone on the other side of the street do the same,” she said as she was finally finishing up her story.

Dahyun rarely ever replied to her stories, yet Momo knew she always listened, Dahyun didn’t have to reply. Tzuyu on the other hand had to.  
“Say something Tzu!”

“That was a lovely story, I’m glad she is alive, Momo,” she said completely monotonous and disinterested. For a while you could only hear their teeth crunching on the food the youngest prepared for her group.

“Have you thought about what the managers suggested?” Tzuyu asked Dahyun. The energy at the table suddenly felt different. Instead of small talk about whatever Momo was dreaming about last night or Dahyun telling Tzuyu the food tastes amazing, which would keep all the girls happy and smiling, the sudden change made them all a bit uncomfortable. Tzuyu and Momo didn’t want to talk too much about it, both of them knowing that if they push her, Dahyun would absolutely talk about her hatred for Sana for so long, her food would get cold and even after they got out of their dorm, at rehearsals, after rehearsals and so on. But they knew they had to talk about it.

After the managers came up with the plan to have them tour with Twice, F.A.I.R.Y.’s leader had a difficult decision. At one hand they could agree to it since it would boost their popularity and the girls would be excited to see Twice again, she knew how long it was since Momo last saw Mina and Sana. Hell, she missed Chaeyoung, she couldn’t deny that. She hadn’t seen her friend in so long, ever since Tzuyu and her graduated, if her memory serves her correctly. Then on the other hand, the comparisons between Twice and them would never stop and everyone would always see them as Twice’s mini band, not to mention everyone would think they only got successful because of Twice. And she doesn’t want to succeed riding other people’s coattails. There was also that she couldn’t and wouldn’t spend time in the same room as Sana.

"You wouldn’t even see her,” Momo said and threw Dahyun’s empty yogurt bottle into the trashcan.  
“It’s clearly not about that, _she_ is not more important than our group Momo,” Dahyun said and rolled her eyes, as usual when Sana is mentioned, “I just don’t want us to be constantly compared to them.” There was some truth to what she was saying. It wasn’t all about her, Dahyun was a professional after all and her personal issues with _her_ couldn’t, shouldn’t and most definitely wouldn’t stand in the way of the group’s success.

“I think it could be good for us,” Tzuyu added to the conversation.

“So do I,” said Momo, “we could really gain a lot from that Dahyunie, you know that.”

“Yeah I know… we have nothing to lose, we’ve all heard how awful our sales are.”

“They are not awful,” Tzuyu said, “they are as expected. And the team also mentioned our worldwide views exceeded expectations, or are you just choosing to ignore that part?”

“We just hope you take everything in consideration when you make the decision.”

“I’m not making a decision,” Dahyun said,

“We are. We’re a group and we make decisions together as a group. There is no one I would rather do this with than you two and there is nothing we want more than to succeed, right?”

The girls nodded.

“You two want this. And you don’t want this just because they are our friends, but because it would help our careers, right?”

The girls nodded again.

“Then I guess, I’m in too. I just hope it doesn’t all end up going to shit,” Dahyun said, took their plates and carried them to the washer, “I’ll tell the managers today.”

The other two girls were excited for her decision. They never really doubted she would say yes, because it would be good for the group, they were happy she didn’t need a lot of convincing and saw that it was the correct decision by herself.

“Nothing bad will happen Dahyun, we promise you,” Momo said.

“It’s nothing we haven’t done before,” Tzuyu added.

It really wasn't the thought of something new that bothered Dahyun, because, even though she was confident in herself and she knew they would do it as best as they can, even if she wasn’t sure everything else would fall into place.

“Yeah, on our own, what if they-”

“They won’t overshadow us! Look, we’ve done good so far, because we’ve worked really hard, so we will continue to do so,” said Momo.  
“We are talented enough to stand out. You’ll see, we will prove it to everyone!”

Dahyun just hoped that the girls were right and that they actually made the right decision.  
“Somehow, something bad always happen when she is around.”


	2. Leading

“This literally is her fault,” Dahyun shouted as F.A.I.R.Y. was stuck in the waiting room once again. Sharing the practice facility with most of the artists under JYP had its privileges and its disadvantages. Having to wait for the senior group to finish even though your time to practice started way before, definitely was one of the disadvantages.  
“I hope she at least fell and hurt herself!”

Momo and Tzuyu looked at each other before Momo gently slapped Dahyun’s arm.

“What is wrong with you Dahyun?” Tzuyu said.  
It wasn’t like Dahyun to wish bad luck on anyone, nonetheless an injury, even if the recipient would be Sana. She could see the young leader’s leg bouncing up and down as they had to pass time before Twice got out of their time.

“I’m sorry, I’ve just been a little stressed out lately,” she said, “Everything should be perfect, but we don’t have time to make it like that because they keep taking it from us.”

“But still, Dahyun, that’s not like you,” Momo said.  
She was usually the one who would listen to Dahyun complain about Sana all the time. And she complained a lot. If she saw the her on tv she would complain about it, if she accidentally stumbled upon one of her interviews she would complain and god forbid she somehow saw someone praising the girl! Momo would be stuck for hours listening about how they have no idea who Sana actually is, how not everything about her is actually her, that her personality is just generated by her managers, that she is actually not _all that_ amazing and it would go on and on and on. To be fair, Momo didn’t really have a clue about what Dahyun was saying since she almost always zoned out during her rants, most of them being far too long for anyone to be able to listen to, what even if the one you were being complained about was actually one of your best friends.

“Yeah, I went too far, I agree,” she said just as the members of Twice finally came out of the room.

Momo and Tzuyu said their hellos to the members and Dahyun went straight to Chaeyoung, hugging the younger girl.

Jihyo stood there, watched and waited for her hug. It was no secret to the other Twice members that Dahyun and her had grown close, they shared the same burden, the burden of being the leader, after all. And as easy as everyone else thought it was for Jihyo, it wasn’t and it was even harder for Dahyun. She was younger, inexperienced and never really put in a position to lead before that. She was usually among the younger ones, so when the opportunity to feel responsible for your group’s success presented itself Dahyun wasn’t sure if she wanted it. And Jihyo was always there. She saw that Dahyun had it in her. She never doubted the younger girl, but she knew that it was no where near an easy task, being a leader that is. The memories of her starting still lingered around and that made it easier for her to help Dahyun.

And Jihyo got her hug just before Dahyun and the others entered the room.  
“We already lost so much time, please just focus now,” Dahyun said as Momo was the last one to enter the practice room after she got distracted talking to Mina and Sana, “get them off your mind and get your mind on this choreo, please,” Dahyun scoffed at the thought of _them_ taking any more of their precious practice time.

“I thought you didn’t care about them?” Momo questioned her. It was true, the younger girl spent the last week convincing them that the fact she had to share a hotel, share a tour and share her friends with _her_ for two weeks did not bother her.

“I don’t, I just want us to do it perfect.”

“You mean, at least better than them?” Momo asked again, trying to get a rise out of Dahyun at which she only replied with an eye roll.

“I’ve read the comments too,” Momo said again, the comments meaning what the fans had to say at their interview. “ _Stop trying to get Onces_ _to_ _like them, if they don’t stop mentioning Twice just to get famous I swear.._.” she started reciting the ones she could remember. Her voice started getting higher and higher and that made Dahyun stop stretching, at least for a short while.

“People are our fans because of us, if they just so happened to find out about us because of Twice then that was their lucky day,” Dahyun said to both of Tzuyu and Momo, but mostly it was directed towards Momo, “we are talented enough on our own, and that makes them like us.” She wasn’t exactly sure to whom that one was directed to, actually, maybe she just said it because she needed to believe it too.

“And all that time I thought it was because we’re hot,” Momo joked, to get the atmosphere in the room lighter. And that worked, Dahyun and Tzuyu both cracked a smile and the girls started practicing again.

Dahyun asked Momo to look at her dancing and help her improve some parts. The song, their debut song, started with a slow beat, that got progressively faster until the beat drop when the complicated dance break, which Dahyun struggled with, started. She began by laying on the floor, with her front down, and she slowly started lifting her upper body, trying to be seductive. After a few beats, she was already standing on her two feet and executing the hard hairography. Behind her stood Tzuyu, mimicking her movements, but not going as hard. After the dance break Dahyun stopped and took a few deep breaths as she listened to Momo.

“You’re going too hard, that is your problem,” the oldest started, “that makes you look stiff.”  
Dahyun started taking mental notes about it, still fixated on her reflection in the mirror while wiping the sweat of her face. She stared at it exactly like during practice when she seemed to search for every little imperfection she could find, be it a piece of her hair falling on the wrong part of her face, or her breathing would take away from the look on her face that she tried capturing. Whatever it would be, Dahyun wanted to find the imperfection and perfect it.

“You also clench your fists in the middle part, when it should look more relaxed,” added Tzuyu.  
Dahyun also listened to her, threw her a towel she was using earlier to wipe her sweat off. After a quick water break she turned to the other girls. “Then let’s do it again.”

The practice lasted longer than it should, Dahyun still blaming Twice for that since they took a chunk of their time, but luckily nobody had the room reserved after them, so they could take as much time as they could. The girls were visibly tired by now and because they had four different choreographies to learn, they quickly got tired of them.

“Are we done now?” Tzuyu asked with the sweat dripping from her chin, she was so happy she decided to not wear any makeup today, or she would surely look like a raccoon, she thought.  
Dahyun went to get her phone to check if they were always in sync.

“Look, right here, I start too soon, and Tzuyu is a beat late in the next part.” Momo and Tzuyu looked at each other knowing that their leader won’t stop until everything was at least perfect.

And she sure didn’t.

The practice lasted for half an hour after that and the girls contemplated being ran over with a truck or just falling asleep in the company building for eternity. When they drove home, Dahyun made the driver stop at the local shop, she got out of the car and made Momo and Tzuyu stay behind to rest while she picked up some snacks for them.

She searched the store to find Momo’s favourite biscuits and bought enough for all of them. After that she went to get them some drinks and as she stopped at the fridge she laid her eyes on the Pocari sweat bottles. She scoffed as she bought two for Momo and Tzuyu and she settled for the cheapest coconut water.

As she returned to the car she gave the girls their treats.  
“Thank you Dahyun-ah,” Momo said and Tzuyu just gave her a thank you smile.  
She sat next to them and she saw that they were looking at the article that announced their shared tour with Twice. They gave her a supportive smile, understanding why she went as hard as she did.

 

 

“ _F.A.I.R.Y. is a group of talented girls and Dahyun,”_ Chaeyoung started reading the posts on twitter, _“mediocre dancer, average rapper and an awful singer,” “Dahyun should be happy that Twice is saving her career,” “Sana was right when she said Dahyun isn’t a hard worker, she hasn’t improved_ _at all_ _since sixteen...”_

“Jihyo can we say something to our fans about that?” she asked her friend. She knew that it was mostly their fans that wrote those comments, the groups debuted under the same company, the girls all knew each other, and while most of their fandom was supportive there were some with really hurtful comments, directed mostly at Dahyun. For some reason they didn’t find her talented, they could recognize she was funny and interesting but she could never get recognized for her talents. Apparently the fans overlooked she helped write some song, not only for her group but for other JYP artist before she debuted. They overlooked her kindness and everything else she had to offer, they all started bashing her because in their eyes she was not a good dancer and yeah, maybe her singing was not as good as someone like Jihyo, but her talents were very clear to anyone willing to see them.

“I don’t think that would be wise, the people that leave hate would hate even more if we helped her out of this, don’t you think,”Jihyo said and those words were reasonable enough for Chaeyoung to stay put.

“I just hate that she is going through that.”

“So do I,” the older said as she pointed at the spot next to her on the couch she was sitting and Chaeyoung gladly took it, “but she has to take care of it herself, we can only be there for her as friends.”

Chaeyoung sighed before she laid her head on Jihyo’s shoulder. The two were the only two close to Dahyun, while the others weren’t so keen on the girl. Mina always took Sana’s side even though she had no problems with Dahyun, Sana was just her best friend and she had basically no relationship with F.A.I.R.Y.’s leader. And while Nayeon and Jeongyeon used to be okay with her, they got annoyed with everyone from F.A.I.R.Y. for ruining their break.

“I just have one request,” Chaeyoung said.

“Shoot it.”

“I don’t share a room with Sana during the tour, I don’t want to get in the middle of whatever that is.”

Jihyo laughed as she said : “You’re with me then.”

“She has spent most of this week complaining about everything, not just Dahyun,” Chaeyoung said, “and we both know that she wouldn’t if she wasn’t about to tour with her, I had to beg Mina to talk to her in Japanese so I wouldn’t have to listen to it anymore.”

The group was used to Sana complaining because she always did it in a cute way and always did what was asked of her, but recently she complained more and more and more and more. And they, Chaeyoung specifically, couldn’t take it. Sana was the one that gave them positive spirit with her constantly chipper demeanor and to see her constantly complain, well it was a bit too much. It was harder for Chaeyoung since she actually liked the girl Sana complained about, even though Sana made sure that everyone knows that she is not complaining about _her_ and that _she_ never pops up on her mind. She made sure everyone knew she was nervous about the tour and angry because they got no break.

“I get what you are saying,” Jihyo said and sighed, “I already told her that she has to be on her best behaviour and ignore Dahyun,”

“Yeah?” Chaeyoung asked, “How did she react?”

“She said, and I quote ‘ignore who?’”

 

 

Momo arrived half an hour before the time they set up. It wasn’t like her to be early but she was nervous about this. And she made sure everyone who had the pleasure to see her know this. She couldn’t stand still for a couple of seconds and she went on blurting everything she could think of. As she roamed in front of the cafe she remembered how Sana spilled coffee on her in the first week they had met. The younger girl was rarely nervous, she was just very clumsy and excited. And the look on her face when Momo acted like she was angry at her for it was just priceless, Momo thought. They were supposed to have a meeting to help them get acclimated to Korea but it was early and Momo couldn’t sleep all night because she missed her family so Sana tried bringing her coffee but she tripped over her own two feet and the accident occurred.

She loved, absolutely adored actually, Mina and Sana and it was not a problem for her to wait a bit longer to see them. They were a trio, or before Mina arrived to JYP, Sana and her were a duo. Where there was one, there was usually also the other. And that hadn’t changed when Mina arrived, the pair just simply added her to their group. And that also hadn’t changed when Mina and Sana debuted without Momo. The only thing all three were sure of was that they would remain as close as ever. Even if they rarely had time to see each other, or to properly talk.

And now, just a week before they had to depart for tour, she waited for her friends for a few minutes more before the Twice pair arrived. Standing in front of the coffee shop so she would be easily spotted, she noticed she was gaining some attention from people around. It’s not like it was the first time people noticed and recognized her, it mostly happened when she was hanging out with Mina and Sana though. And when they arrived the crowd got even bigger, some people immediately going to them for autographs and pictures and others simply taking pictures from afar. It didn’t bother Momo that they had gotten much more attention than her or that all of them didn’t get to enjoy a bit of privacy because she really loved her fans and loved interacting with them, it bothered her that she couldn’t even greet her friends properly.

After most of the people were satisfied with their pictures and autographs, the group was finally able to enter the cafe called Rose Petals, named after numerous pink rose petals stuck inside the glass floor and even a larger number of them painted on the walls. When they were all trainees, the girls used to come here more often, since it was the closest one to the JYP building. Actually there were ones that were a lot closer, but Sana said that they didn’t matter because they weren’t as pretty as that one so she declared it the only coffee shop in that part of the city.

As they sat at their usual table, the one in the corner, slightly lifted like it was on a podium, none of them really knew how to start the conversation, so Sana took the initiative and hung Momo and Mina’s coats on the rack nearby, while putting her light brown one on the next one, since the first one was already full.

Meanwhile the waitress arrived.

“Oh it’s the three of you again,” she said before turning towards Momo, “I got used to seeing you with the blue-haired girl only.”

And as Momo looked around the table she sure saw the look on Sana’s face that could read as “ _really, here of all places?”_ but to her delight nothing like that came out of her friend’s mouth.

“Good to see you too, Hyunjin,” was what she said, “how’s your lady?”

As the three of them became regular costumers most of the waiting staff remembered them and that surely didn’t change when they became more and more famous. The group took a liking for the dark haired waitress in front of them that used to work all the shifts when they were there. To be honest she used to work almost all of the available shifts before they brought in some reinforcements to help her. And they had a lot of time to chat when the business was slower.

“Sadly not my lady anymore,” Hyunjin replied, “I’ll come get you the usual, right?” And the whole table nodded their heads.

“I had no clue they broke up,” Sana said in complete shock.

“Yeah, about 5 months ago,” Momo answered and shrugged.

“Oh” was all that Sana could mutter back as she and Mina simply looked down at the table.

“It’s funny now, when I think about when she told me, but she was so dramatic then,” Momo said and let out a small chuckle.

“Even more dramatic than...” Sana started saying and turned towards Mina.

“… the time Mina told us about her breakup with BamBam!” Momo finished that for her as the pair was now looking at Mina and wearing proud smirks on their faces.

“I was not being dramatic!” Mina shouted, or slightly raised her voice, but to Mina it was loud enough.

“You had snot running out of your nose!” Sana felt like she had to remind the youngest of her embarrassing moment.

“ _Who will ever love me if he can’t”_ Momo mocked and Sana joined and pretended to wipe fake tears all over her face. Mina whined but let them continue with their little show which the pair finished off with some loud crying noises followed by silent sniffles.

As the time progressed, they continued to joke about their past mistakes like BamBam or some of the things the stylists had Sana wear and make sure Mina and Sana did not let Momo forget about the last time she had no bangs. It felt natural, like the old times, how they laughed, smiled and talked to each other. Like nothing was wrong with them and that’s what Momo enjoyed most with them. That no matter what she always had them to fall to if nothing else worked out. She always had them she was sure of that. It always had been them, no matter how far apart, something always kept them together, be it faith or their own strong will and desire to stay together. Their relationship sure required lots of sacrifices and in the end they made it work, they had to.

While they were in the middle of their conversations Hyunjin returned with their orders, coconut and white chocolate flavoured coffee for Sana, americano for Momo and an irish coffee for Mina.  
And during the third round of the same drinks, Momo said: “I can’t wait to see you guys more during the tour.”

Mina and Sana shared the same sentiment, they had missed Momo, a lot, and they also missed their sleep and Mina missed those rare days when she wouldn’t have to listen to Sana complaining about Dahyun over and over and over and well you get how much.

“Neither can I! It’s going to be so much fun,” Sana said, “even if she has to be there.”

Momo sighed at that observation. “Just try to be nice please,” she said and as Sana tried to interject she raised her hand to stop her, “ignore her if you have to but please don’t start anything.”

“Have I ever,” Sana said and scoffed.

“Yes!” Momo and Mina both said and they were right. Sana had the privilege to tease the younger girl while Dahyun would probably commit career suicide if she ever tried to pull anything like that time Sana admitted in the interview that she didn’t like the girl.

“And please stop taking away our time to practice, I know that was on purpose.”

“Whatever.”

After that the girls resorted to some normal bickering and Momo tried remembering Sana of how she failed miserably when she tried to prank Dahyun that one time. “I still can’t believe that you tried to glue her shoes to the ground and you only managed to glue your fingers together,” Momo pointed at her, “that’s called karma!”

“Nope, that never happened Momo!” Sana smiled and playfully hit her friend.

“Oh yeah, the shoe incident, I remember,” Mina said and shook her head. I’m sure almost every Twice member knew of this, the day Sana came back to their place and had to ask Jihyo to help her unglue her hands because Mina was to busy laughing at her to do so. Jihyo didn’t even ask a question and helped her but when Nayeon and Jeongyeon saw what was happening they took a picture that to this day is still visibly hung on the refrigerator door.

“You can be happy that Chaeyoung wasn’t around otherwise it would have been even worse,” Mina said jokingly. There was time when Sana was not one of Chaeyoung’s favourite people, mainly because of her hatred for Dahyun and would probably whoop Sana’s ass if she could reach it. Luckily for Sana, Chaeyoung quickly realized that Sana can be sweet and kind person, you just had to avoid a conversation about Dahyun.

“I still can’t believe her hair was orange!” said Momo.

“She looked cute with it, tell her Sana!”

“One time Nayeon came home drunk while Chaeyoung was doing yoga and she literally thought she was a broom, Mina, there was nothing, absolutely nothing, cute about it.”  
Momo couldn’t help but laugh while mina only sighed.

“Wait, Nayeon… drunk? Are we talking about the same Nayeon that avoided drinking at the company event because she did not know if the drinks had alcohol in them? That Nayeon?” Asked Momo.

“Yes the same Nayeon, the Nayeon that went to a similar event with Jihyo and got drunk on accident, because, as it turns out, the drinks actually were alcoholic,” Mina explained with a big grin sitting in the middle of her face.

“I can’t wait to see her again!”

“I wouldn’t be so excited if I were you,” said Sana and Mina agreed.

“Yeah, they, Nayeon and Jeongyeon aren’t your biggest fans right now…”

Momo opened her mouth in shock and just as she was about to speak she was cut off by Sana.

“Nothing personal, don’t worry, they were just really looking forward to their break, you get that, right?”

And Momo just nodded, not really getting why someone would want a break, she enjoyed what she does, oh well maybe that comes with time, maybe people just grow tired of it, or maybe it gets harder and harder to keep up, that’s what Momo thought at least.

They spent a good portion of their time talking about Chaeyoung and Jihyo and Nayeon and Jeongyeon and Momo wondered how they were doing and Mina and Sana told her all about them.  
While they were explaining how Nayeon seems even older than ever because she keeps complaining about her back, Sana’s phone rang… again.

“Aren’t you going to get that?” Momo asked, pointing at the iphone placed screen down next to Sana’s drink.

“No, not really,” Sana answered fully aware of who was calling.

“Trouble in paradise?” Mina asked with a smug smile on her face to which Sana replied with an eye roll and a chuckle.

The sudden realization changed the smile on Momo’s face to almost a frown. Until then she could only think about Sana and Mina having secrets that did not involve her, sharing stuff with one another and forgetting about Momo, leaving her in the dark just like they left her alone when it was time for their debut. She saw that this was not meant for her to know so she didn’t push it, she just sipped on her coffee and listened to Mina and Sana talk about the new choreo they had to learn.  
After their drinks have been drank, their jokes were laughed at, their gossips shared and their compliments told, they paid for the drinks and grabbed their coats. Before they left they took one last stop at the counter where stood Hyunjin.

“I am so glad to be able to catch up with you,” said Sana. They said their goodbyes and got out of the coffee shop as they left a generous tip for the young waitress.

 

 

“Hey, I’m back,” yelled Momo, not knowing nobody was able to hear her. You see, Dahyun was still out and about and the other person she was living with, Tzuyu liked to keep her headphones on at all times.

“Hello!” she yelled out again. After now realizing that nobody would respond she walked into the bedroom and sat on Tzuyu’s bed so that the youngest would be able to greet her. And just as she thought, Tzuyu took off her headphones and greeted her.

“Where’s Dahyun, and more importantly, where is my hug?” Momo asked.

Tzuyu did as she was ordered and hugged Momo. The pair had gotten awfully close during their trainee days, as they were the only ones left to not have come from Korea. They were close before but after Sixteen, when Momo was more or less left by herself, without her closest friends, she naturally gravitated to the next one she was closest to, who just happens to be Tzuyu. She was not as close to her as she was to Mina and Sana but lord would she lie if she said she wouldn’t die, kill and live for the younger girl if that was what she asked from her.

“She’s working out,” Tzuyu said, answering the first question Momo had asked.

“Again? She is going to work herself to death,” the older girl answered.

“Yeah, she’s been gone for about 4 hours now.”

Dahyun did not like to work out before they were in their predebut state, the first one, back when F.A.I.R.Y. was supposed to have 5 members. Once she realize how close she had gotten it only pushed her to work harder and now she rarely stopped going harder and harder and almost no day passed without her going to the gym.

“What’s up with you, you’re being awfully clingy right now?” Tzuyu commented on how Momo wrapped her arms around Tzuyu’s leg, luckily the younger girl’s bed was big enough for them to be cuddled up like that.

“Remember how I was telling you before that I’m not sure if I know Sana and Mina anymore because we haven’t seen each other in so long?” Momo asked.

“You mean how you were freaking out about it, yeah, that sounds familiar.”

Momo shifted herself, tightened her grip on Tzuyu’s leg and laid her head on it. “They are still the same people, you know,” she started and felt a pair of eyes looking at her as Tzuyu just nodded, “they are still the same and yet I feel… I feel like I am losing them,” the last part was said rather slowly like she was trying to fight off some tears and Tzuyu noticed that so she ran her hands through Momo’s long black hair. “It feels like we are living in two different worlds.”

“But it’s been like that since forever, Mo.”

“It felt different,” the older said and lifted her head to look Tzuyu in the eyes, “we were still as close as ever, but they felt like they were closer to each other. It was like… I don’t know I-”

“Like you were the odd one out?”

“Yeah, exactly…”

Tzuyu saw that the older friend needed one so she gave Momo a hug, and not that sloppy, quick one, but the one where your hands grip her back really tight and it lasts long enough for you to close your eyes and bring your nose to her neck while you stroke her hair.

“I’m so scared to lose them, Tzuyu,” Momo said into her neck.

“You three always find each other.”

“Hopefully,” said Momo as she broke the hug. Her heartbeat was faster than it should be and she couldn’t really bring herself to look up this time. She knew her groupmates had her back, but yet she felt so embarrassed every time she got vulnerable with them, she was older than them after all and should have been the one to comfort them.

“Just don’t say anything about this to Dahyun, please,” she started, “with everything going on, she has enough on her plate to deal with.”

“I agree,” said Tzuyu.

Often the girls currently sharing a bed would confide in Dahyun and she would help them realize what was to be done in order for them to move forward, as a group and as people. She was wise beyond her year, both Tzuyu and Momo agreed. So when the other two would have a problem, Dahyun would be the first one to find out, be it on her own, or by them telling her. Listening and understanding what was said to her was one of the young leader’s specialties. Just like finding the right words to say or knowing how to comfort a person. When Dahyun first comforted Momo, a while after sixteen, when Sana and Mina were nowhere to be seen and Tzuyu was finally able to visit Taiwan, the younger one was quick to realize that Momo needs to be held and fed in order to calm herself down. They still joke from time to time about the fact that Dahyun only had to offer Momo food in order to befriend her.

Tzuyu and Momo ended up just laying on Tzuyu’s bed for some time, completely silent, while Tzuyu was watching some movie neither were that interested in. Neither of them were that interested in looking at the time, so when Dahyun arrived home and yelled her greetings just like Momo before her, just like Momo before her, she too was left without an answer. And just like Momo, she too ended up on Tzuyu’s bed watching the boring movie.

“I’m glad we have each other,” she said as she watched her best friends fall asleep laying beside one another.

“I’m glad you two have my back,” she said just as her eyes were about to shut while she fell asleep right next to them.

 

And as Tzuyu and Momo woke up next day, the spot where Dahyun slept not being warm anymore for their leader was long gone already, all they had waiting for them was sliced fruit and a note.  
  
“ _Went for a run, managers sent us a schedule_ _for the first week_ _._  
I made you breakfast, there is more in the fridge Momo, don’t worry.  
See you later,  
Love, D!  
  
Schedule:

Day 1:  
first fansign- 10:00  
KBS COOL FM- 15:15  
scheduled v-live appearance

Day 2:  
second fansign-9:00  
Idol room with Doni and Coni- 14:00

Day 3:  
break day  
morning vocal practices

Day 4:  
photoshoot -3:00  
concert- 20:00

Day 5:  
SBS radio- 6:30  
third fansign- 13:00  
Tei’s Dreaming radio- 21:00

Day 6:  
KBS world TV- 7:45  
Idol Master- 16:55

Day 7:  
concert- 19:00”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for reading this far:) in the next chapters we'll more or less follow them on their schedule, so thanks for any feedback and feel free to interact with this story as you wish, you can even come talk to me on twitter about it @blinktwoeyes  
> hope you enjoyed and you continue to enjoy this story


	3. Convergent

It was the early morning before their tour started. The one where they would be traveling across the country and guest on various variety shows, meet tons of new fans, have a concert or two, experience new things and, oh yeah, also the one they were sharing with Twice.  
The place surrounding them was dark as sun was yet to rise, to which the girls were since it meant less people would be there to take their pictures.  
As F.A.I.R.Y. got to the first hotel they were staying at, Twice and their managers had already been waiting for them.

“We have three rooms for three people each,” one of the managers said. The girls collected their luggage and started walking to their rooms, already knowing beforehand which rooms they were staying at.  
“Chaeyoung,” Dahyun said as she greeted her younger friend, “pink hair really suits you.”  
The younger rapper had recently dyed her hair again and she as well as most fans would agree it’s one of the best colours she had pulled.

“Thanks,” Chaeyoung replied and Dahyun noticed she wasn’t as talkative as usually. Chaeyoung could go on and on about most things that didn’t really make sense to Dahyun and they both enjoyed those conversations since they both had somebody that would listen to them even if what they were listening to made no sense.

“I’m looking forward to the fansign, are you?” Dahyun tried to strike the conversation again.

“Yeah.”

Dahyun just smiled after that.

They took a few more steps before Chaeyoung asked: “What room are you in?”

“127, why?”

“Just checking where I’ll be headed as soon as I unpack,” Chaeyoung said and smiled at her friend, “we really need to catch up, don’t we?”

Dahyun nodded and followed the path of her pink haired friend.

“You don’t have to walk me to my room, Dahyun,”

“Yeah, but I want to, I just feel like I haven’t paid much attention to you since our debut. I feel a bit guilty,” she said as the pair was deciding if they were to take the stairs so they wouldn’t have to wait for the elevator to come back after taking Jihyo, Nayeon and Jeongyeon to their room on the third floor.

“I think Momo would appreciate your help carrying the bags more than I would,” she said as she pointed towards Momo, trying to carry her and Tzuyu’s bags. And Tzuyu had a lot of luggage, she tried explaining it to everyone how “being pretty requires a lot of equipment, something you wouldn’t understand”.

“I think she is just trying to impress that blonde girl at the reception. She would probably be mad if I tried to intervene,” Dahyun said with a giggle escaping her lips.

“I really don’t think she really needs to try so hard to impress,” Chaeyoung said and shrugged at Momo’s attempts at wooing.  
“Where exactly is your and Jihyo’s room?” Dahyun asked.

“Actually, I’m rooming with Sana and Mina,” Chaeyoung said.  
“Change of plans?” Dahyun just smiled at her as she pointed towards the stairs, suggesting the path they took.

“A bit yeah,” said Chaeyoung, “our room is on the first floor, you are welcome to come by anytime.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that is true,” Dahyun said and chuckled.

“She wouldn’t kick you out, Dahyun. She would just pretend you don’t exist or leave the room.”

“She would probably just talk about me in Japanese,” Dahyun joked around, but that was actually something Sana would do.

“She would totally subtweet you in real life!”  
“And I would understand everything without her knowing,” she said again, referring to the fact that Dahyun spoke Japanese almost fluently, a fact Sana did not know.  
After a bit they arrived to Chaeyoung’s room, Sana and Mina already started unpacking inside.

“You can come in if you’d like,” Chaeyoung joked.

“I think Momo and Tzu really need me to help them,”Dahyun joked back. Helping Momo unpack was a fun and easy thing to do since the girl was easily distracted by the smallest of things and whining about them and complaining and at the end Momo still unpacked faster than anyone else in their group, Dahyun had no idea how. It was a joy to watch, especially considering her laughter after every complaint was simply infectious.  
“Just meet me at our room when you’re finished?”

“127, right?”

“Yes sir!”

 

It was now 7 am, three hours before the fansign would start and an hour since she and Chaeyoung departed, so Dahyun picked up her phone and called her friend. It had only rang once before it hung up. So she tried again.  
And the same thing happened.

5 minutes passed and there was a knock at their door.

On the other side stood Chaeyoung.

“Sorry I’m a bit late, had to help Mina unpack,” she said and Momo just laughed as she closed the door behind Chaeyoung. Mina and her lived together before and had taken numerous trips, so she absolutely knew what a mess Mina was when it came to unpacking.

“She has too many clothes,” Momo said.  
“Yes! And every single piece has to be carefully taken out,” Chaeyoung rolled her eyes.

“What’s wrong with that, she just cares about her stuff,” Tzuyu honestly wondered. She was the same when it came to that but not to that extent. Nobody was as meticulous about that stuff as Mina was.

“I tried calling you,” Dahyun said as she waved her phone in Chaeyoung’s direction.

“Oh, Sana and Mina are taking selfies on my phone,” she said as she sat on Dahyun’s bed, right next to her, while Momo was preparing to take a shower and Tzuyu was laying on her own bed.

“I guess I’m not taking a nap right now?” Tzuyu almost asked her friends. She too missed Chaeyoung as she last saw her at their graduation a couple of months ago.

“Nope,” Chaeyoung said, “should we watch a movie?”

“I don’t think we have time for a movie,” said Dahyun, “We have to get our hair and make up done soon.”

“What about a tv show?” Tzuyu asked.

“Great idea! How about we rewatch an episode of Sixteen?” Chaeyoung said as she immediately took cover, the pillows covering most of her body, while Dahyun and Tzuyu simultaneously hit her.

“That shit is forbidden in this house!”  
“Watch your mouth Tzuyu!” Dahyun said inbetween laughs, “But yeah, get that shit out of here!”

Chaeyoung laughed as her friends acted offended. She missed them just having fun as all of them were busy nowadays.  
And before, when Dahyun and Tzuyu were still trainees and none of them had yet graduated, when they met up they usually talked about school or some other JYPE connected stuff. That was until Tzuyu suggested monthly movie nights with just them, talking about anything but JYP and school and idol life. This was their only rule and they followed it religiously.

“Yu Gi Oh it is then,” Chaeyoung said while Dahyun, clearly on the same page, already started looking for a good streaming link.  
Tzuyu soon joined them on Dahyun’s bed and the three of them cuddled even though Chaeyoung was strictly against it since she might fall asleep if she laid her head in a comfortable position.

“You can just fall asleep. Nobody’s going to judge you here, hell, Momo probably fell asleep in the shower right now,” Tzuyu said jokingly. She moved her shoulders so Chaeyoung would rest her head.

“And miss out on hanging with you?” Chaeyoung scoffed, “I don’t think so.”

As she said that, Momo finally managed to come out of the bathroom, with nothing but a towel on, after what felt like an eternity and was actually a little less than half an hour.

“You almost take longer showers than Sana,” Chaeyoung said as the oldest girl ran her hand through her wet hair.

Momo squinted her eyes. “I resent that,” she said.  
It felt nice to joke about Sana with someone that didn’t hate her. Every time she would joke with Dahyun it just felt like she was betraying her friends, both of them. “She wouldn’t even start showering by the time I already finished,” she continued and shrugged her shoulders. She went on to wipe some water that was still left on her face and when she removed the towel, she revealed that she had underwear on after all, a black sports bra and green shorts to be precise.  
Chaeyoung noticed how muscular her body looked and how tan she had gotten. She knew Momo was buff, she had seen her dance in just that exact bra before. It was the comfortableness in her own body that stood out to Chaeyoung.

“”Want to join us in watching?” Dahyun asked. Her, Momo and Tzu had their own monthly, or weekly, sometimes even daily, movie nights, during which Momo always complained about Dahyun’s movie selections.

“Thank you, but I don’t feel like fighting with you today,” Momo said as she put on a black shirt, one that Dahyun was convinced once belonged to her.

“As you wish.”

They finished the episode and Chaeyoung excused herself as she was almost late for hair and make up.

 

 

The fansign was just as Dahyun expected. Awkward. Hair and make up took a lot more time than usual due to the hair stylist trying to make her blue hair colour look more alive so she was running a bit late. She hated being late, even if it wasn’t her own fault.

And what was even worse was yet to happen.

There were only three chairs left, one at the end, right next to Mina and two empty ones right by each other. She looked around and saw that Sana also wasn’t there yet so she figured she would want to take the one next to Mina as she took the one next to Nayeon.

“Hey,” she greeted the older girl.

Nayeon nodded and smiled.

“Are you tired?” Dahyun asked.

“Do I look tired?”  
Dahyun was taken aback with the answer as she did not know if Nayeon said it jokingly or not, she did not know the girl well enough to come to a conclusion.

“I’m just thinking about that break I’ll have one day,” Nayeon said and chuckled.  
“I’m sorry about that Nayeon, I-”

“Look, it’s not your fault, I get that, let’s just get through it.”

Dahyun smiled at her as they reached the silent agreement to not continue the conversation. They had some time to kill before they started so she started posing for pictures. Making a finger heart, a big heart above her head, then one of Momo’s fansites asked her to act like she was about to eat the camera. She pretended she was biting into the camera, her hands acting along as if they were dangerous claws and Chaeyoung lost her shit when she saw what F.A.I.R.Y.’s leader was doing. She imitated the girl to tease her and the fans went wild, while Dahyun, her red cheeks easily visible on her white skin, covered her face in embarrassment.

And then Tzuyu arrived. Dahyun thought she would take the seat next to her and Jeongyeon, but she saw Mina first. And Dahyun didn’t want to see what was now inevitable she didn’t want to see Sana next to her. She quickly caught her facial expressions, which were now a big annoyed smirk accompanied by a slight eyebrow raise, into a small smile, the biggest she had to offer towards Sana. After all, there were cameras everywhere and she was nowhere in a position for anyone to think that she did not want to be there. Even if that was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. She posed for some more pictures and when Sana took her seat next to Jeongyeon, she greeted Dahyun by nodding her head towards the girl.

Now that all the girls were finally there, the first portion of the event was able to start. The girls started taking the questions from the fans, most of them were directed to Twice, they were the senior group after all, the nations girl group nonetheless, so it wasn’t surprising. Chaeyoung got asked about her obsession with strawberries and she went on to explain why she holds them so near her heart.

“They are amazing on their own. Sweet and beautiful without being manufactured or processed by anyone else. Yeah… that’s it. And I just really like their taste, their colour, the texture, everything about them is simply amazing,” she said and the crowd clapped at her mature response.

Then Mina got asked if she read any good books in Korean lately, referring to their last fansign when Mina said that she got a gift card from a Korean bookstore for her birthday.  
To which she just nodded and started talking about how Tzuyu and her started reading Carol together, Tzuyu commenting how she didn’t really want to read but she still did it because Mina asked.

After that, a fan in the front row asked all of the girls about their favourite animal and to everyone’s surprise Tzuyu answered dogs, as did Sana. And Nayeon. And Jeongyeon. And Momo. And Mina.  
Chaeyoung said she likes birds because they look so free in the sky and she always wanted to fly like them. Jihyo said she likes all animals and Dahyun said elephants. The crowd chuckled at her answer and Sana shot her a weird look. “It used to be dolphins, right?” she asked.

“Yeah, used to be,” Dahyun answered coldly as possible, without even looking at the girl sitting beside her.

Chaeyoung started teasing Dahyun that she looks similar to an elephant and Momo joined in saying that her hair is the same colour as elephant’s skin to which the girls and the crowd responded with a loud laugh.

A small girl with a shy voice asked Sana if she could dance something for her and Sana asked if it was okay to have someone join her. The fans started shouting affirmatively and the girl nodded, so all of the foreign line went to the front of the stage as Sana urged them to do a familiar dance.

“This is a dance us four did frequently when we were still trainees. It started with Momo and I and then we added Tzuyu’s part and Mina just naturally fits in. We haven’t practiced in some time, so please be patient with us,” she said while giggling. Looking at the other three members, you could see a laugh trying to escape their tightly guarded lips.  
Sana and Momo started dancing, just moving their hips to the rhythm of the song, from left to right. Then Tzuyu came in between them, doing her version of that Russian dance where they squat and kick out their feet, only Tzuyu had really long legs. And she was wearing heels. So it didn’t last long for her to fall, which made the other girls laugh. Mina came in to the dance trying to play off Tzuyu’s fall as part of the choreography and lifted her so all four of them were standing in a line and moving their hips to the rhythm. They looked like they were having fun, all of them smiling and looking at each other and the crowd, after all, dancing was supposed to be fun.  
After a while Sana broke into a laughter and Mina started talking.

“We used to be much better at this. That’s what old age does to us,” she joked.

Tzuyu laughed with her and just as she picked up a mic and tried talking a scream was heard from the crowd.

“Shut up! Just shut up!” One of the “fans” yelled at Tzuyu.

Tzuyu closed her mouth and lowered her mic trying to listen to the fan before lifting it up again just as Sana hugged her from behind and put her mic in front of Tzuyu’s mouth, gesturing her to speak her mind.

“As she was saying,” Sana said looking at the fan that shouted before.

“I used to have so much fun doing this with the unnies,” Tzuyu started talking, thankfully to Sana, “it made me miss home less and it made me feel like I actually belonged there.” She arrived at a very young age and so did Sana and Momo so they all knew how it felt to be away from home, from the only place you knew. It wasn’t easy but having some sort of family in Korea helped them.

The first part was soon over after that and they moved back to their seats to spend time with the fans one on one.

Dahyun observed a girl she knew was one of her fansites as she first started talking to Tzuyu. She saw her smile so she was glad she was enjoying. She noticed that the girl had a piece of paper with her. She watched the girl going from Tzuyu and then to Mina, Chaeyoung, Jihyo, Jeongyeon and then finally she was in front of Sana so Dahyun could finally see what that piece of paper in her hand was.  
It was a drawing of all 9 of them sitting behind a desk like in the painting of Da Vinci’s Last Supper. She saw that she was painted as Jesus and she couldn’t help but smile at that. Dahyun realized that the girl was asking all the girls for their signature on that piece of fine art.  
As she observed all the details on the pictures she saw Sana making a big signature inside the heart she had drawn, almost in the middle of the picture, which made Dahyun just sigh.  
When it was finally her time to meet the girl she quickly thanked her and asked her about the picture.

“You are two of my favourite groups and you’re my favourite idol. I just love how confident you are and I just honestly thought it would look really funny and it’d make you laugh,” the fansite said.

Dahyun took the pen and wrote “thank u” on the right corner followed with a small heart and the girl smiled at her with one of the brightest smiles Dahyun had ever seen.

It had always been her dream to bring happiness to people, to be the one to make them smile and bring joy to their live. She really enjoyed that, so connecting to fans was one of her favourite things to do.

The rest of the event went by quickly, nothing special happened, the girls met with fans that complimented them and they complimented the fans back, pretty normal, until one boy arrived.

He was sitting in front of Dahyun.

“So, what was your reason for coming today?” she asked genuinely wondering about it.

“You and Sana are my favourites. You two mean so much to me,” at this point Sana started listening to their conversation, “you remember me that happiness is something worth having and something I deserve and have to work hard for. That it doesn’t just come easy. And you two are also the funniest people I’ve met,” he said with tears filling his eyes as Dahyun held his hands.

“But I am funnier, right,” Sana joked with the boy.

“Keep dreaming, Smiles,” Dahyun said and the look on Sana’s face was loud enough for anyone to see that she absolutely loathed Dahyun’s usage of her old nickname.

“I don’t have to dream, Snow White,” she fired back. And this was Dahyun’s turn to get heated.

Nayeon noticed the tension between the two was getting a bit high so she budged in to the conversation.  
“You don’t have to lie to them, we all know it’s really me,” she said and winked at the boy who was sure he was about to die right at that moment.

The event was finished and the girls started going backstage.

“I can’t believe you right now!” Sana started shouting at Dahyun who clenched her jaw and fists. She was loud enough for some fans to still hear them.

“It’s not like you ever did,” Dahyun said calmly and moved herself away from the situation, started walking towards the exit, hoping that the van, picking them up would already be there so she didn’t have to spend more time there.

“What is that even supposed to mean?” Sana started again which made Dahyun turn around.  
She looked at the blonde girl in front of her. Looked her directly in the eyes as she opened her mouth slightly before closing it again, collecting herself and her thoughts before she started speaking.

“Let’s just try to be civil for the sake of our groups,” she said.

“I was trying to be, it’s not my fault your sense of humour seems to have disappeared.”

“Whatever Sana,” Dahyun said and this time truly left.

 

 

Sadly, due to the fact that the fansign lasted longer than expected, they ran out of time to have proper lunch, so while the other girls were trying to catch up on their sleep before their appearance on KBS COOL, Dahyun decided she would get food for her girls, something that the three of them were used to. Ever since their debut Dahyun was the one to go get them food when they were hungry, she figured it would be for the best, or else she and everyone else would have to deal with cranky Momo. And while she found her adorable when cranky, some people, including Momo, didn’t.  
She already knew what they wanted to eat, jokbal for Momo and chicken skewers for Tzuyu, but she was still deciding what to get for the other girls. As she was walking out of the building she luckily ran into Jihyo.

“Hey Ji, you are hungry right?” she asked. 

“I guess so. What is this about?”

“Okay cool, I’m in a bit of a rush, just ask your girls what they want and text me.”  
“Wait really? You know you don’t have to, we could just ask our managers,” Jihyo said, hoping that Dahyun didn’t have any ulterior motives, especially ones where she would mess with Sana.

“I’m already getting food for us so I thought why not,” Dahyun said while walking towards the exit.

It was risky going to the store on her own considering she was famous and all that. Someone might recognize her or start making rumours about her or she could get mobbed. But Dahyun already had the routine stuck in her brain. She got out, put on a big mask and a beanie over her hair and only tried speaking Japanese with anyone she got in contact with. She never got recognized that way and she sometimes liked being unrecognizable.  
She quickly grabbed food for F.A.I.R.Y. since she already knew what to get them, so she only needed to get the Twice members their food and luckily, Jihyo’s text finally came through.

 _"sweet cakes_  
pepero, any kind but the white cookie one  
tteokbokki crackers  
plain yogurt  
fire noodles  
flavoured milk  
Thank you again Dahyun<3"

She asked some of the employees for help finding the items but sadly none of them spoke Japanese so she was back on her own. It didn’t took her much to find all of the things, she had the most problems with deciding on which brand of yogurt to take and in the end she took the one she preferred.

 

As she returned, she gave one bag to Jihyo, who waited for her in front of their room, and the other one she took with herself to the room in which her group members were both found calmly taking a nap.  
She coughed, but that didn’t seem to bother either of the girls. She tried once again and the result was the same. She gave up, put the bag on one of the small tables in the room and looked at them once again.  
“Food,” she said this time, not really loud, but I guess it was loud enough to wake Momo up as she quickly started walking towards her meal, and no I do not mean Dahyun. Soon after, Tzuyu followed. All of them were exhausted, tired but not hungry at the end of their meal.

The interview was soon enough. It was an usual boring interview, Dahyun thought. The same boring questions about the friendships between Twice and F.A.I.R.Y. was asked and the younger group was far more prepared to answer this than Twice. She was really happy that she was able to sit in between Momo and Tzuyu this time, so it felt like a normal interview, just with Twice next to them, nothing out of the ordinary.

The host had some more questions, some were actually about their music, which surprised Dahyun and then some were about how their tour was going to which no one had a real answer considering it only just started, but Jeongyeon said she hopes it goes well. They talked more about their debuts and the groups compared them.  
“Well, when we debuted the company was almost in shambles, Suzy was the one holding it up mostly, so it’s nice seeing it prosper now . We’d like to think we helped,” Mina answered, “it was hard, you know, since we kinda had to make a name for ourselves, while F.A.I.R.Y. has some more advantages being well known already and getting to share the company with all the other great groups.”  
“Yeah but we don’t want to be known because of you,” Tzuyu answered right back, “you made a name for yourselves, but we don’t want to share the same name and while we were known more at the time of our debut, we are ever since known just as Twice’s mini band. We love having you as seniors, but we don't want to constantly walk in your shadow when we're not even taking the same path.”  
There was some truth to her words but most of it came out of frustration, Tzuyu had no problem touring with her seniors and she loved them dearly, but it hurt her constantly being compared to Twice, constantly being reminded that Twice is the only reason for their success.

“What they are trying to say,” Dahyun jumped in, “was that the both groups worked really hard to become what we are today and we have all had our difficulties that make us unique to each other.”  
And Jihyo agreed with her. So did Nayeon. And Jeongyeon. And everyone else. Even Sana.

Afterwards both groups performed a song, Twice went first and they prepared a breathtaking version of Melting. As Jihyo started singing Dahyun could swear she saw the host swaying to the rhythm while holding back tears. Or maybe that was just Dahyun.  
Dahyun wasn’t sure how to follow that performance, yet F.A.I.R.Y. did their best as they performed an acoustic version of Colors for the first time ever. Starting off the song, her voice was a bit shaky but as soon as the pre-chorus hit, she was already one with the song. She had that rare ability to absolutely embody whatever song they were performing and that made the song that much more interesting. The host and all of Twice enjoyed the song, even though, what was meant to be a dance break, now became an open space for Momo's adlibs.

After the performances, the host said goodbye to the groups and the groups said goodbye to the fans listening as well.

 

 

As they all gathered in the hotel lounge, their live stream finally began and all of them collectively agreed that Momo was in charge of that. She really liked doing it, mostly because she usually just danced to random songs and the fans enjoyed it as much as her.  
They started it off by introducing themselves even though the fans already knew who they were, Dahyun just always felt it was respectful and it stuck with her group members, others just simply followed along.

The girls were sitting on the couch and Mina went to Momo's phone to check the comments. She read a few but not loudly enough for the members to hear. 

"Why aren't you reading the comments?" Nayeon asked.

"She is, but nobody is listening carefully enough," said Tzuyu that sat the closest to Mina.  
Tzuyu and Mina developed a habit of listening to each other since they were quieter than others and used to not being listened to. Ever since their trainee days, Tzuyu could be seen looking at Mina whenever she spoke and she appreciated it, so she always returned the favor when Tzuyu was the one speaking. 

Chaeyoung decided she would show the fans some of her drawings and the other members all told her how good they looked. Momo looked at one abstract piece and pretended she was being asked what she saw in it. 

"It's a cloud. No! It's... It's a... is that the brain?"

"Oh my god Momo, that's clearly a sheep!" Nayeon said. 

"It looks like cotton candy," said Sana as she got closer to the drawing so she could take a good look at it. 

"No, I see brain too," Dahyun agreed with Momo.

"Guys!" Chaeyoung shouted.

Jeongyeon moved in closer. "It's a puddle, what's wrong with you guys?"

"Isn't it a poodle?" Tzuyu said and shrugged.

"Guys!"

"I only see colours," said Mina.

"So do I, but they look really pretty, Chae," Jihyo agreed with Mina.

"Guys!" Chaeyoung shouted again as the group started bickering about what they saw in the picture, most of them saw a different thing and it was clear none of them were willing to reach a compromise.  
"It's just popcorn, guys."

To put it simply, they had a lot of fun doing this. They were just being themselves, joking together and enjoying their time. Even Sana and Dahyun weren’t causing any problems since both of them avoided each other and questions about one another. It was like they didn’t exist to each other. And maybe it was for the best.  
The live stream didn’t last for a long time, even though Momo desperately wanted it to last longer, but the girls had to get some rest before the next day, so after answering some questions, most of them went back to their rooms, leaving Momo, Sana and Tzuyu alone with the fans.

“I’m really glad I got to meet all of you,” Sana said as she turned to Momo and Tzuyu, “how are your fans called?”

“They don’t have an official name yet, we’ve been trying really hard to come up with a good name but nothing seems good enough to describe them,” Tzuyu answered.

“I still loved meeting you all today, you guys are really nice! Keep supporting your girls, they are going to need you just as much as you need them!” she said to the fans.

 

 

Dahyun, as usual, went to the gym at the first glimpse of free time she had. She liked to follow a particular schedule on which muscles she would focus on. First legs, the next day she would focus on back muscles, stomach and lastly the arm muscles, all of that followed by a day of rest and then all over again. Except her rest days actually meant she would go for a run or some light cardio. It wasn’t just that she thought she needed to do it in order to become better, it also relaxed her, let’s say she found a solace in it.

She had expected to see Jihyo there, since she sometimes ran into her back at the company gym, but when she saw a different member of Twice already working out when she walked in, she wasn’t surprised either. She had heard all about how hard the girl worked and how the words break and failure weren’t in her vocabulary. If there was anyone she ever truly looked up to besides Jihyo, it would have to be Nayeon. Honestly, it was almost a miracle the girls never saw each other while working out before.

Dahyun saw the older girl was still stretching while picking out the music from her playlist and she was glad Nayeon decided to use the treadmill since there was only one machine that focused on arm muscles. If it had been taken already, Dahyun would have been forced to do push ups. And Dahyun hated push ups with a burning passion.

“Hey,” she said and waved at Nayeon. The older girl just nodded her head and put on her headphones, so Dahyun walked to the machine that was waiting for her and started adjusting it.

She moved the weights to 10kg for warm up. Repeating the same movements for a set amount of times didn’t interest Dahyun, she was a much bigger fan of setting her timer to one minute and going hard during the whole time, resting for a minute and repeating the whole process. After every second set, she adjusted the weights and added 5kgs to them. It was much easier to reach and surpass her limits like that.

So she sat on the bench and pulled the weighted lever to her chest. She could hear music coming out from Nayeon’s headphones and if she had listened carefully she would recognize the older girl was listening to IU, but sadly, Dahyun was way too lost in her own thoughts to know that.  
After she had already reached 30kgs, she heard a cough coming from Nayeon’s direction. She looked at her and saw Nayeon holding on to the side of the treadmill with one hand and covering her mouth with the other.

“Hey, are you alright?” she asked.

Nayeon didn’t answer as she was still too busy coughing, so Dahyun walked over to her to check up on her. As she was beside her, she tried touching her and the older girl almost jumped away from her.

"I’m fine!” she said with a raspy voice, “You don’t have to touch me, you don’t have to talk to me, just do your thing and I’m going to do mine.”  
Nayeon searched for air around her to try and finish what she was saying. “Got it?”

Dahyun just nodded and went back to working out. She made sure to glance at the brunette every once in a while, which didn’t happen lots since Nayeon left the gym shortly after.  
She just focused on working out and relaxing and added another 5kgs to the weights.

 

 

Back at the third floor of the hotel, Jihyo and Jeongyeon were preparing for sleep, Jihyo brushing her teeth while Jeongyeon had just gotten out of the shower.

“We leave this hotel tomorrow, right Jihyo?” Jeongyeon asked and went to the bathroom to apply her favourite green face mask.

“No, we’re here for one more night and then we leave, since we’re free the next day. The management wanted to be easy on the traveling this time.”

Jeongyeon pushed Jihyo slightly out of the way in front of the sink the girls shared so she could see herself in the mirror.  
“Just move, you don’t have to see your face when you’re brushing your teeth!” she said as Jihyo smiled at her while tooth paste was coming out of her mouth.

“How do you do it?” Jeongyeon asked.

“What? Brush my teeth? You take that thing we call toothbrush, put some toothpaste on it then add some water and put it inside your mouth to brush the teeth. For someone that old you really should have known that already.” And if Jeongyeon hadn’t been that focused on spreading her mask all over her face she would have rolled her eyes at that response.

“How do you remember all those things, like our schedule, what we prefer to eat, what we are supposed to be doing and whatnot?” Jeongyeon asked after she finished.

“Organize, organize, organize,” Jihyo said, “I have most of those things written down somewhere. And it also helps that I have to repeat myself constantly, because all of you keep asking me those things all the time.”

“That makes sense,” the long haired brunette answered as she started fanning herself to make her face mask dry faster, “Does it ever bother you… that we rely so heavily on you?”

“I like taking care of you guys, besides it’s not like I don’t rely on you all just as much.”

“What do you mean?” Jeongyeon said, her face mask almost dry as she observed Jihyo searching for her comb everywhere in her luggage.

“I don’t feel pressured at all since I know I can trust you. Everyone always sees me as this amazing leader that has everything under control but the truth is, that wouldn’t be so if you guys were anyone else,” the leader said while combing her hair.

“I mostly just delegate things between us, like if anyone has a problem, I’m there to help, it’s not like I have to personally tell anybody to go practice or to eat healthy and stuff like that. I’m just there for you all. And I have to count how many of us are still there ever since Chaeyoung got lost in Dublin.”  
Jeongyeon put her fan down as she sat on her bed and leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes.

“You know what I like about you?”

“What?” Jihyo looked at her friend.

“Whenever something is wrong, either with the group, the company or something personal, you don’t try to bear the pain instead of us. You’re not the kind of person to do it for us, you help us through it and that makes us better people. You, Park Jihyo, make us better people.”

“No," Jihyo started and pointed to Jeongyeon with the comb in her hand, "We make each other better people, Yoo Jeongyeon.”

“We will always have each other's backs!” she pointed back at her.

“Absolutely!”

“And we have you to lead us through it all.”  
The girls smiled at each other. Jihyo finally combed her hair and put it in a bun. She brought out a stripped black and white shirt that used to have pink glitter on it and while it was still visible under a specific angle and light, it was clear that its time was way past.

“You’re still wearing that?” Jeongyeon asked and pointed at the shirt Jihyo was putting on.

“Don’t act like you haven’t worn it every day last week,” she answered with an eye roll, “I don’t think I have ever seen Nayeon wear it, though.”

“We were just talking earlier about framing it when we come back home,” Jeongyeon said.

Back when they were trainees they, Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo, always stuck together. They were supposed to debut together before, but as that was canceled they were asked to participate in Sixteen. That’s when they made each other a promise, to always stick together even if they weren’t meant to debut together, they were still meant to mean the most to each other. So they went out and bought the ugliest shirts to remember them of each other and all the ugly moments they have shared together until that point.  
“Would you have ever imagined how far we’d come?” Jihyo asked as she sat beside Jeongyeon, “When we were trainees all I could ever think was how I wished I would debut already. And then I did, with you guys and here we are now. Isn’t it crazy? And we just keep on improving.”  
“I’d say it’s because we make each other better people, but you’d call me cheesy.”

“You can say it, I promise I won’t call you cheesy,” Jihyo said with a big grin on her face.

“If you say so,” she said and took her breath, “It’s because we make each other better people, Jihyo.”

“You’re so cheesy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone:) Thanks to everyone that left really nice comments and thank you to everyone that reads this story.  
> I hope you enjoyed this update and feel free to interact however you'd like even bother me on twitter @blinktwoeyes  
> Until next time, rei.


	4. Drawing the Line

“I’m so glad we don’t have to pack,” Tzuyu said as she flung herself on the bed in the corner of their hotel room.

“You mean you’re glad Momo is in love with packing and finished it for us already”

“It’s my one true love,” Momo said and shrugged.

Dahyun just brought their luggage into one pile next to her bed and sat on top of it to make it look smaller.

“Today was pretty much boring,” she said.

“What are you talking about, today was amazing!” Momo budged in.

“Are you only saying this because we actually had time for lunch?” Dahyun asked.

“Maybe…”

The girls had enough time to eat a cooked meal after their fansign. Even though all of them loved interacting with the fans and enjoy those kind of events they were extremely happy it didn’t last long since it was the first time in a while they got to enjoy lunch. That meant that the three of them teamed up with Twice and ate in a fancy restaurant they found on the road to the studio where they filmed for Idol Room.

“Is it because Sana and you seem okay again?” Tzuyu asked, “You two talked a lot during our lunch. I almost got too distracted to eat every time Dahyun sighed when you made Sana laugh.”

“Wait,” Dahyun said, “were you two not okay?”

“We were okay, at least I think so,” Momo answered and opened the hotel room window, “we were just awkward. I mean, we have that amazing chemistry when we are together and we can talk about everything, but lately, well… it’s like neither of us know how to start a conversation. I don’t think we are comfortable around each other as much.” Hinting a slight concern in her leader’s voice Momo decided to speak her truth.

“Wow Momo, I didn’t even realize.”

“Of course you didn’t ,” Momo said and shook her head while letting out a breath.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dahyun furrowed her brows.

“It’s not like I can talk about that with you, I-”

“What do you mean, you can talk to me about anything.”

“Can I though? I have all those things I do with Sana that I never talk to you about. It’s like I’m living two separate lives. One where you are my best friend and then one where it’s me and Sana and I feel so guilty all the time for hiding a part of my life from you.”

“Do you really feel like that?” Dahyun calmly asked her friend when she reached out to put her hand on Momo’s upper arm while she tried finding her gaze with her eyes full of worry by now.

“Every time Sana tells me something funny or we do something that I really want to share with you, I just get sad. Because I can’t really do that, I can't share what brings me joy with you,” Momo said and lowered her eyes.

“I’m sorry Momo if I made you feel like you can’t talk to me about it. I should have been there for you.”

“Yes you should have,” Momo lifted her head up to meet Dahyun’s eyes, “but it’s okay. I get that it’s hard for you too.”

“It is, but I should have tried. At least acting normal when Sana is around, that is. If not for my sanity, then for you.”

“Didn’t you try it before though, before we were even confirmed to be in the group together?” Tzuyu asked as she joined in on the conversation the two girls were having.

“I guess I hadn’t tried hard enough.”

“You don’t have to be okay with Sana,” Momo started, “I’m just asking you to be okay with me being okay with her.”

“I’ve always been okay with that Momo. I guess I should have made that clearer to you.”

Momo sat on the bed next to Tzuyu.

“We have some free time left, don’t we?” she asked.

“Why?” the other two girls wondered.

“I feel like we have some pent up anger from that conversation we have to hash out like we know.”

“What exactly are you saying?” Dahyun said even though she already had an idea of where Momo was going with that.

“Jungle speed?”

“Yes!” Tzuyu shot up from her bed and started looking for the game inside of Dahyun’s bag, “We haven’t played in forever!”

“I haven’t beaten any of you since before our debut and that is just sad,” the leader whined.

Tzuyu searched the bag and pulled out numerous things she didn’t know Dahyun even needed like a nearly used pink marker and some broken hair ties.

“You should clean this more often,” she said as Dahyun just rolled her eyes, “Found it!”

“Should we invite the other girls? Like Mina and Chaeyoung, or Jihyo?” Tzuyu asked.

“Chaeyoung said she’s going to write some songs and Mina and Sana are probably too busy packing,” Momo answered.

“Tzu, call Jihyo’s room,” Dahyun said and Tzuyu happily obliged.

She dialed the number and waited for a bit before the other room picked up.

“Who’s that?” the voice on the other end said.

“Tzuyu… I’m-”

“Oh hey, it’s Jeongyeon!”

“I just- we actually, wanted to invite you guys over to play some games,” she said as she bit her tongue, “if you’d like to, of course!”

“I’m not sure I have enough time but I will definitely ask Jihyo and Nayeon!”

“Great, I hope we see you!”

“Wait, Tzuyu! What room are you guys in?” Jeognyeon asked to which Tzuyu could hear Jihyo yelling over the other side how she knew where they were and that Jeongyeon shouldn’t worry and just come join her and Nayeon in packing.

“Should we warm up before anyone else comes?” Tzuyu asked as she hung up the phone and when she turned around she saw Momo already set up the game for them with Dahyun, waiting for Tzuyu to join them in the circle they formed on the ground.

“You two are going down!” Momo said as she pointed at both of her co-members. Dahyun saaw the look in her eyes and she knew that Momo was ready to win. The girls started playing the game and Tzuyu started winning early on despite Momo’s high effort, Tzuyu was just better to start the game.

It wasn’t long until the girls heard a knock on their door and it was Jihyo who arrived.

They started a new game to which Tzuyu protested since she was winning, but Dahyun said that it was just because she had longer arms than others and it wasn’t fair to start with.

“How do you play it?” Jihyo asked as she she joinex the group in the circle.

“The game revolves around matching cards with identical shapes,” Dahyun said.

“Or colours,” Tzuyu corrected her leader.

“Momo shuffles the cards and gives it to us, face down.”

“This figure,” Momo said, grabbing the small wooden pole in the middle of the circle they’ve formed, “this is called the totem pole. We flip the cards, one by one. We leave the cards down. If two cards have the same symbol, or sometimes colour, the two people that have those cards have to fight for the totem pole that is positioned in the middle. The one that gets the pole gives the other one all of her cards that have already been turned over.”

“That means that nobody fights for the pole since you’re basically losing all your cards if you get it?” Jihyo asked.

“The goal is to be the first one to get rid of all your cards, Jihyo!”

“Ok! Got it!”

“A round starts when the first person turns over their card and finishes when someone gets the totem or someone takes the totem without having a matching colour or shape,” Tzuyu also added.

“Understood,” Jihyo said and showed a thumbs up to the group.

“Then let’s start,” Dahyun said.

Momo started turning her cards and Jihyo recognized they had the same one so she reached towrds the totem pole and Momo did the same as soon as she saw Jihyo’s hand moving and at the end she got to it faster. Later Tzuyu and Dahyun both had the same one and none of them reacted . “I thought this was your game, Tzuyu? Why are you as bad at it as me?” All of them laughed and after a while it was Jihyo’s first time to receive a big stack of cards.

“Where on earth did you find about this game?” Jihyo asked laughing, “It’s so fun!”

“It’s something I played with my family when I was younger,” Dahyun said and shrugged.

“Her brother is so good at it,” Momo said, “I swear he always wins when we play!”

Jihyo played a good game, after getting a lot of cards she fought through and really improved with her instincts. She mostly struggled with knowing whether they were supposed to be looking at the colours or the shapes in that round, but those were honestly just rookie mistakes.  
Dahyun was the one to reveal her card and the colour matched Jihyo’s and because the older girl wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be looking at, she didn’t fight for the totem pole, meaning Dahyun easily took it. But to the younger girl’s disbelief, they were looking at shapes, which meant that F.A.I.R.Y.’s leader had to take every single card that was played in the round.

The game was finished soon after, Momo just slightly beating Jihyo.

“I swear I almost had you!” Jihyo said in disbelief.

“Relax, you’re pretty good for a rookie,” Dahyun said and hit Jihyo’s shoulder while the older girl pretended to cry in pain.

“Let’s do it again, please! I need to win…” Jihyo said while she was looking at Momo.

As the girls were dealing the card they heard a knock on the door. “Mind if I join?” Jeongyeon said.

“If you came just to lose, then you’re welcome,” Tzuyu said and pointed towards the place where the oldest girl should sit.

“psht I never lose,” Jeongyeon waved off her attempt at trash talk, “what are we playing anyway?”

“Jungle speed.”

“Never heard of it.”

The group explained the rules to Jeongyeon who listened carefully, her eyes moving slowly from the girls talking towards the cards and then the totem pole and then back to the girls and then towards Jihyo, giving her a look like she couldn’t believe Jihyo actually understood what they were saying.

“You just have to try it and you’ll understand,” Twice’s leader said.

“Let’s go then!”

“How about we warm you up with some practice rounds?” Dahyun suggested and gave her a deck of cards a bit smaller than the others.

And the girls played a bit, Jeongyeon started out great, Jihyo claiming it was beginner’s luck and maybe she was correct since the oldest girl finished off awful. As Jeongyeon tried grabbing the totem pole when she and Tzuyu drew the same colour, she accidentally hit herself with the totem pole right across the face. And to top it off, she failed to notice that it was shapes they were looking at this round once again.

“That’s going to leave a mark for sure,” said Dahyun and Jeongyeon just shook it off and played again.

After two more rounds Jeongyeon finally got a hold of things and pointed out how Momo was now the one that messed up and should have grabbed the totem pole, but she didn’t realize and now her card had already been covered.

“I’m really glad you decided to come,” said Tzuyu to Jeongyeon as she smiled at the girl.

“So am I, even if you suck at this game. You’re fun to play with,” Momo agreed.

“Don’t get me wrong, I always love hanging out with you, but I thought you were spending some time with Nayeon,” Jihyo said.

“Well she apparently decided she doesn’t need me right now so I have to make myself busy with this bunch of losers,” she said as she pointed at F.A.I.R.Y. and squinted her eyes to tease the girls, “Before that, I was supposed to work on some songs with Chaeyoung, but they are having a “Mina situation” at their room so-”

“we’re your last option,” Dahyun said as she laughed at the older girls lack of options.

“Well yeah.”

“But seriously,” Momo said, “it’s not even humanly possible to be so bad with packing.”

“I know! We’re only here for two days, did she unpack her whole closet?”

“I would have the same problems if Momo didn’t help me,” Tzuyu said.

“No you wouldn’t, trust me,” Momo said, “she takes it to a whole another level.” And Jeongyeon agreed.

“Are we going to play or what?” Jihyo said, anxious to start already, since she was eager to try and finally win, taking revenge on Momo.

Jihyo revealed her card and then Jeongyeon did the same and so followed. They played some fair rounds, not really talking much. Dahyun was ecstatic since she expected much more bickering and trash talking, especially considering Momo was doing pretty well.

“That doesn’t count!” Jeongyeon yelled, “You still had your card in your hand!”

“I can have whatever I want in my hand!”

“No you can’t!”

“Yes I can!”  
“Jihyo it’s not even the same colour…” Momo said.

“It has to be the same colour?” Jeongyeon asked confused, “Yeah Jihyo, this one is totally yours,” she said and took her grip of the totem pole, making Jihyo the sole owner of it for the round. Which meant that Twice’s leader made a mistake and had to collect all of the cards that were played in the round. As she took over half of all the available cards, Jihyo started complaining about the rules and how unfair the game was.

“Nobody likes a sore loser, Jihyo,” Jeongyeon said.

“Nobody likes cheaters either,” Jihyo answered back.

“I am not cheating Jihyo, you just suck!”

“I do not!”

“Well okay, then so I am just better than you, fair enough…”

“Wait, who is cheating?” Dahyun asked.

“You could try but it still wouldn’t help you,” Tzuyu said and the group burst into laughter.

This round was over quickly, since Jihyo’s stack of cards being too big for her to be still able to win it, which left Momo playing with a complete rookie in Jeongyeon, a person who was as blind as a bat and Tzuyu, who while she had good reflexes and understood the rules perfectly just didn’t care enough to fight with Momo over the game.

After a few more rounds of Jihyo and Momo going at each others’ throats for the pole and the other girls just screaming out of frustration, Momo’s phone went off.

“Oh shit, I was supposed to meet up with Sana and Mina,” she said as she was already getting up.

“Well you could invite them here?” Dahyun suggested.

“Yes! Invite them here so I can beat them too!” Jeongyeon said while Momo looked at Dahyun as if she was asking for a permission.

“I said I was going to try,” she said, “and we’re having a good time here, so why should we break it up?” And Momo hugged the girl with her hands gripping her tightly around the neck.

“I texted them and they are bringing Chaeng.”

“The more the merrier!” Tzuyu said.

Dahyun used the time waiting for the girls to arrive as a bathroom break. When she came back she saw Jeongyeon straddling Momo as neither of the girls was prepared to let go of the totem pole. As she was about to say something, she heard a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it,” Momo jumped up and let go of the totem pole to go open the door.

The three girls walked in and greeted the others. Dahyun tried making eye contact with Sana but she felt the older girl shifting her gaze to escape Dahyun’s eyes.

“What are we playing?” Mina asked.

Sana finally looked towards Dahyun’s direction, towards the circle and the totem pole.

“Jungle speed!” she said and almost started jumping with excitement.

“I guess we don’t have to explain the rules again!” Jihyo said.

“I’ve never seen this game in my life,” Chaeyoung said as Mina agreed with her.

After Momo explained the rules for the third time, another game started. The eight girls sat in a circle that was now almost as big as their room. They barely had room to move their limbs but none of them seemed to complain, they were just happy Momo never closed the window so the air was constantly fresh, otherwise the room would smell from the number of people currently occupying it.

“I love playing with a lot of people!” Dahyun said, “it’s so easy to win since you get less cards than before.”

“You never win, Dahyun!” Momo threw her a side eye.

Jihyo turned over her first card and it was a green circle.

“Wait, are we doing colours or shapes first?” Sana asked.

“Colours, then it changes after every round,” Momo explained yet again.

Next followed Jeongyeon with a red square and after that Tzuyu revealed green squiggly lines. Before the youngest girl even saw what was happening, Jihyo was already celebrating.

“It’s only one card Jihyo!” Jeongyeon said.

“You’re just mad because you’re losing Yoo!”

Jihyo started again and now all the girls had their cards out and none of the shapes matched. Sana turned over her card that had a big cross in the middle of it. Her eyes quickly roamed through all the cards as they laid on another card with a big cross. Before she looked to who it belonged she quickly went to grab the totem pole.

She was met with a hand underneath her, trying to grab the same totem pole. She looked up and met Dahyun’s eyes. The girls sat there and looked at each other. Neither of them were tugging at the pole and neither of them was trying to pull it out of the other’s hand. They just sat there and neither of them seemed to want to let it go. Nothing mattered to them, both of them saw only the totem pole and each other as the room felt blank and uninteresting to them.

Dahyun’s breath seemed to disappear as she was too focused on holding the pole than anything else. She looked at the older girl once again before turning her look towards the other girls in the room. And that was when she noticed it. The whole room actually went silent and the tension was so tight you could cut it with a knife. All the other girls just observed the situation, not really knowing what to do, or how to react.

And Dahyun let go.

Next round, Mina and Chaeyoung had to fight over it after both revealed a yellow shape.

After a while, Jihyo was left with no cards, but she insisted the others play until the end.

“I’m not playing if I can’t win anymore!” Jeongyeon said.

“You couldn’t win even if we let you,” Jihyo teased her friend once again.

Momo shuffled the deck of cards while Mina and Chaeyoung were still confused about the rules of the game.

“I can team up with you, Mina,” Tzuyu said, “since I have played this before. And I also suck, so I would appreciate a pair of eyes to help me.”  
And Mina smiled at the suggestion and scooted closer to Tzuyu to form a team.

“That’s not fair Tzu! Then I am taking Chaeyoung!” Momo whined and crossed her arms.

“You’re already too good, Momo. Dahyun you take her!” Jeongyeon suggested.

“No way in hell! Dahyun is deadly when she wants to be! You take her Jeong.” Momo said and Tzuyu agreed.

“You know, I’m not really a piece of meat, right?” Chaeyoung acted offended.

“Yeah, piece of meat would actually be useful,” Dahyun teased her and Chaeyoung decided to team up with Jeongyeon to take down Momo and the others.

And at first Tzuyu and Mina were successful, Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung… not so much.  
“Colours Tzuyu!” Mina yelled and blocked the younger girl’s hand as it was reaching towards the totem pole and would definitely be a mistake that would result in them getting all the cards. Tzuyu looked at her apologetically and Mina patted her shoulder to let her know she was glad there was no harm done. They were having a lot of fun, most of the time was spent laughing at each other’s mistakes and even though Dahyun and Sana still willingly ignored each other, both of them really enjoyed playing this.

“I haven’t played this in such a long time!” Sana shouted as she repositioned herself. She was now not laying on the ground anymore but instead opted to sitting straight up so she could see the game better.

“I bet you forgot how it felt to lose like this,” Momo teased her and Sana just giggled.

“Wait, is it colours or shapes?”

“Oh my god Jeongyeon! Colours! Pay attention…” Jihyo answered.

“It’s actually shapes,” Momo said.

“Wait, I thought it was colours too,” Dahyun said.

“So did I,” Sana agreed and both girls looked at each other for a brief second before both of them moving their eyes away.

“It’s definitely shapes, though,” both Tzuyu and Mina cut the tension.

So the girls decided to go with shapes and a few rounds passed where, surprisingly, no one made a mistake.

And then it happened again. It was Sana and Dahyun’s turn to fight for the totem pole. And once again, Dahyun tried grabbing the lower end of the pole, while Sana went from the top.  
They looked at each other and this time neither of them broke eye contact.  
And this time both of them started tugging on the pole. Dahyun tightened her grip and pulled it a bit stronger, not really using her full force. It was a moment meant for just the two of them. And as much as Sana pulled, the same force was retaliated by Dahyun.

“We both know, that I’m much stronger than you are,” Dahyun said as she was still staring at the girl. This time she wasn’t holding her breath.  
She moved her fingers slightly, just barely touching Sana’s hand and the other girl responded to the action by pulling the totem pole a bit more.

“You’re going to break the thing if your hold it any stronger,” Dahyun said without a blink.

Sana moved in closer, still holding the pole, “I’m not letting go, not now, not ever.”  
And Dahyun also moved in closer, the two girls now sat with just a couple of inches between them. She could feel Sana’s warm breath on her cheeks as she smirked at the girl and pulled the pole and moved Sana with it, causing the girl’s cheek to slightly touch her own.  
Sana moved back and still held onto the pole. Dahyun now pulled it to the back of her head, making Sana fully extend her hand. She pulled a bit more and saw Sana could barely hold on. She still stared at the girl and she still didn’t notice anyone else inside the room. It was a moment for just the two of them after all.  
As she pulled the totem pole even more she could notice that it was causing the older girl a lot of pain just holding onto it.

“We both know that you have a lot more to lose, than I have,” Sana whispered in her ear and Dahyun tugged on the pole again, making Sana almost fall down. The older girl was now visibly in pain while Dahyun’s face turned from white to bright red.

And Dahyun let go. Again.

“Here are your cards,” Sana said as she gave her the cards she put down before with a big smirk on her face.

After that the game became much more serious, at least to Dahyun. She was super concentrated and made no mistakes, when it was her turn to fight for the totem, she fought well and won every single time.  
It was time for Momo and Dahyun to fight over the pole and to everyone’s disbelief, Dahyun grabbed it, and before Momo even noticed what was happening, a big stack of cards was already coming her way.  
The game lasted for about five more minutes before Dahyun got rid of all her cards and got up.

“It was fun hanging out with you all, but I think it’s time for me to get some workout done today,” she said and quickly excused herself out of the room, avoiding everyone’s looks and especially avoiding Sana.

 

 

Next day, before the girls even got comfortable in the new hotel, they already rushed to their vocal exercises they scheduled in an empty room. Momo and Tzuyu went in first, since Dahyun had to deliver Jihyo a bag of snacks the Twice members asked for when F.A.I.R.Y.’s leader went to the store again. She quickly found way to Jihyo and Chaeyoung’s room and was happy she didn’t have to knock on the door, because the other leader already waited for her outside the room.  
“Thank you so much Dahyun, you really are an angel!” she said.

“It was no problem, really,” Dahyun said and smiled to the ground, “everything the same as before plus a bag of gummy bears, correct?”

And Jihyo just smiled and bowed to show her respect and gratitude before leaving inside her room with the white bag in her hands.

Dahyun would almost be late to their practice if she hadn’t hurried towards the room it was held in. When she arrived the other two girls had already began by warming up their vocal chords.

“And finally she arrives,” their teacher said looking at Dahyun, “get warmed up so we can begin.”

Dahyun put her lips together and vibrated them without pitch, at first, to help build up her breath support and stamina while singing. Then she added a pitch and held it for about 5 to 6 seconds. Her tone went up and down and the tickling sensation in her nose annoyed her. She repeated that for about five times.

“Okay now that you’re all warmed up,” the trainer began, “let’s begin with some breathing exercises.” His voice bothered Dahyun, it was low and raspy and so deep and he always sounded annoyed, especially when he was working with her and it made her want to do this even less than before.

“Breathe in slowly, and count to 10,” he said once again and started counting to 10 along with F.A.I.R.Y. members. “Now hold it in. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… and exhale… slowly! Dahyun I said slowly! Count to 15.”

Dahyun rolled her eyes at him and counted to 15 while slowly exhaling.

“Good. Now do it again,” and the girls obeyed him. They were aware that breathing was crucial to their performances, Tzuyu paid special attention since she was known to get out of breath easily due to their choreographies and her stamina not being on the same level as the other two members’. She breathed in and out slowly and followed all of the teacher’s instructions.

“Now repeat it. But this time exhale with a ‘ss’ sound” All the girls obliged and in a couple of seconds the room sounded like it was full of snakes, which was what Momo pointed out and the girls laughed. Even their teacher smiled. But just a little.

“Again! This time don’t hold the ‘ssss’ sound but do it once and then break it off, then do it again. Repeat until there is no more air in your lungs.”

Dahyun tried and after the third ‘ssss’ sound her lungs started hurting so she exhaled completely. The teacher looked at her and sighed. “The whole point is that it hurts so your lungs get used to less air leaving your lungs. You did okay, Dahyun, just try harder next time.”

And Dahyun sure did try. She tried again, this time she managed to get to her fifth ‘ssss’ sound before her face turned red.

“Exhale already Dahyun! You reached your limit, don’t try too hard, you still have to breathe afterwards…”

And Dahyun tried one more ‘sssss’ sound before exhaling. She got dizzy and her face felt like it was burning up so she sat down and took a deep breath to calm herself down.

“You did good,” the trainer said and returned to the other girls.

Breathing exercises didn’t last much longer and Dahyun hated what was coming next even more.

“The last exercise we are going to do should be fun. It’s generally perfect for singers looking to strengthen their chest voice or increase their chest voice range,” the trainer said, “to put it simply, you have to sing out ‘ha’ at each note of the decreasing scale. Don’t hold the note, just do it staccato.”  
The girls nodded to show him they understood what he was telling so far.

“Let’s start at this note first,” he said and pressed g4 on the keyboard and the girls sang it.

“Great, now we go a note down!” And F.A.I.R.Y. did what he told them once again.

Those exercises were a breeze to Tzuyu and Momo who had trained in singing much longer and harder than Dahyun. Ever since the ending of Sixteen the girl received more training towards rapping and dancing than singing so she was a little, no actually she was really insecure about her singing voice despite her hard work during training. Tzuyu was always meant to be a singer so it came to no surprise when she became the main vocal of the group, after all she was the strongest in that department. And Momo, while being the main dancer and one of the best ones that generation laid eyes on, was also occupied being the lead vocal. After sixteen, when it was clear that even though her voice suited rapping, she never had that natural feel for the craft. And her voice really suited the lower registry of F.A.I.R.Y.’s more soulful songs.

So compared to her girls, Dahyun never felt like a good singer and even though she tried, a lot might I add, she still occasionally felt nervous when she had to sing live. Her confidence mostly came from her dancing and rapping.

“The trick is to allow space between each note so that your emphasis is strong on each pitch! Sing it in your chest voice and push yourself to increase your range every time!” the teacher tried encouraging the girls. Even though they didn’t need motivation it still felt nice to hear those kind of words.

They repeated the exercise again and the teacher walked over to Dahyun and placed his hand on her chest to make sure she was doing it correctly. Her voice started cracking as he was coming near her.

“Don’t be shy now! Singing is all about confidence.” Dahyun looked at him and stopped singing.

“Just try again.”

And she did, but her voice still cracked at the third note.

“Again,” he said and he could feel Dahyun’s voice getting restless as she started blinking rapidly.

“Okay, you’ve had enough for today! Make sure you take care of yourself and your voice. Use some humidifiers if it feels too raspy,” the teacher said and started walking away from Dahyun.

“Let’s just do it again!” she yelled after him.

“It would do you more good if you rest your voice for now. That’s it guys. Momo, Tzuyu, you should rest too,” he said pointing towards the other two girls.

“Please! Just one more time,” Dahyun started again, her voice getting higher and impatient, “I promise I can make it right!”

“You need rest to get it right Dahyun,” he said and walked out of the room.

The girls grabbed their thing and walked out. Dahyun held the door open for Tzuyu as the younger girl was opening her a water bottle.

As they were walking down the hallway Momo was busy looking through her phone. IT was silent at first the Tzuyu decided to speak.  
“For someone that never replies to my text you sure do spend a lot of time on your phone, Momo.”

And Momo didn’t reply, probably because she didn’t really hear the girls since she was preoccupied with her phone. Dahyun just kept quiet and looked annoyed.

“I hate these exercises,” she said, “I just want to get it right and I can’t! Everything I do is wrong.”

“It’s not that serious Dahyun,” Tzuyu said and looked at her leader, “you’re just too hard on yourself.”

“I’m trying and trying and I still suck at it! It just makes me so mad!” Dahyun said and shook her head. She kept her lips tight and fists clenched as she kept on walking behind Tzuyu.

“I don’t even want to do it if I just keep messing it up! It does me nothing good except put me in a bad mood.”

“You really should listen to what the teacher says,” was heard from the other side of the hallway just as Tzuyu was about to speak, “resting is the most important thing for your voice.” Dahyun looked around and saw Nayeon standing right in front of the other girls now.

“And what would you know about that?” she said.

“You’re not going to achieve anything over night, Dahyun. Trust me, I’ve tried and tried and failed again.”

Dahyun shook her head and walked past the girl. “Thanks for the advice,” she said and scoffed.

 

 

It hasn’t even been that long since they arrived at the hotel, but Dahyun figured that Chaeyoung and Jihyo probably unpacked already and went looking for them in their room. She knocked once and there was no answer.

“Is anyone here?”

And the door opened, behind it stood Chaeyoung with nothing but a towel on.

“Can’t a girl shower in peace for once?” she said as she almost slammed the door after Dahyun entered the room. The walls inside were light blue and Dahyun liked how it matched her hair.

“Wake up Jihyo, we got company!”

“Do you normally open the door with just the towel on, Chae?”

“Just for the people that have already seen me naked!” the younger girl replied.

Jihyo shuffled on her bed and barely kept her eyes open before jumping in the conversation.  
“Are you trying to get it on with all of Twice Dahyun-ah?” she was barely heard due to her voice not being quite warmed up yet.

“Not really, considering most of them don’t like me,” Dahyun answered and shrugged. She gestured towards the shirt that was already on Chaeyoung’s bed. “Put it on shorty!”

Chaeyoung did as she was told and a light pink t-shirt now covered her upper body, while the towel was still covering her legs before she decided to put some pants on too. Meanwhile, Jihyo finally arose from her bed with her messy hair.  
“What was that about you seeing each other naked?” she asked.

“Don’t get any wrong ideas, I love Chaeyoungie to death. But!” she said with an emphasis on but, “I could never see her like that.”

“You see, someone,” Chaeyoung said and moved her head in Dahyun’s direction, “doesn’t know how to swim.”

“I know how to swim! It’s a long story Ji.”

The oldest girl shook her head, “I’d say we got plenty of time but I wanted to spend my free time sleeping and not listening to how you two became naked buddies so hurry it up!”

Dahyun and Chaeyoung both laughed at their friend’s impatience.

“Well, it happened after our debut,” Chaeyoung started, “I was supposed to meet with Dahyun for our school project, but she never showed up. So I called Tzuyu and she said Dahyun went to the pool to get some exercise in before we got together and-”

“I got too tired and fell asleep in the pool, okay?” Dahyun interjected before Chaeyoung could finish.

“I didn’t even get to say what a hero I was,” she said and rolled her eyes, “I literally dragged her out of the pool with my own two hands!”

“You jumped into the pool and nearly drowned yourself!”

“But I didn’t! And then the security got to us and we had to shower together.”

“Yeah that’s kinda it, if you forget most of the details, like you losing your watch in the pool and trying to go back in the pool to look for it. Naked!” Dahyun shouted and Jihyo shook her head with her palm in front of her face.

“You two are so stupid,” she said and went to the bathroom to brush her hair, “What did you come here for anyway?”

“Maybe I just wanted to hang out with my naked buddy,” Dahyun answered with laughter escaping her mouth. “Momo and Tzuyu had other plans and I just didn’t want to be alone.”

“You could have hung out with anybody else but you chose us? I’m so flattered,” Jihyo joked around, running her fingers through her hair and got stuck in the middle of it.

“Really funny…” Dahyun said and took her phone out of her pocket.

“So what’s up?” Chaeyoung asked.

“Well I was watching this really cool thing a fan of ours did and then I,” she said and took a breath, trying to collect herself, “I just saw some comments I probably shouldn’t have again.”

Jihyo spun around and looked at Dahyun, “I told you to stop looking at those! It does you nothing good…”

“I came across the fanart and just wanted to look into it more, it’s not like I was searching for the hate this time!” Dahyun uttered the words with some regret in her voice.

“What were they saying?” Jihyo said as she opened her eyes completely and moved in closer to Dahyun.

“It’s not even important.”

“Show us the fanart!” Chaeyoung exclaimed as she was already reaching for Dahyun’s phone, “We can talk about it.”

“You sure?”

“Give me your finger so I can unlock your phone and we can watch it together.”

So the girls all sat together next to Chaeyoung’s bed, Dahyun in the middle of them both. She was barely able to focus on the thing on her screen since the comments were still fresh in her mind. She stayed focused on the blue carpet they sat on as she was thinking about all the people that sat there before her, feeling the same feelings she did, at least that’s how she felt less alone in all of this.

“Wait so you are a witch and you don’t need a wand?” Chaeyoung questioned the credibility of the video.

“Have you ever watched Charmed, Chae?” Jihyo asked.

“It’s a tv show of three sister, witches, that fight evil.”

“That sounds dope!” A loud shriek escaped Chaeyoung’s mouth, “so what is supposed to be your power, telekinesis?”

“Exactly! I would rather stop time since I never have enough of it.”

“Isn’t that girls supposedly their leader?” Jihyo asked.

“Yeah, Prue. She is awesome. I heard they made a reboot sometime around last year, but I haven’t found time to watch it yet,” Dahyun said and sighed.

“See! Stopping time would be the best!” And the girls giggled at the thought of Dahyun stopping time in order to rest and watch tv.

“I think she would just stop time so she could get more work done though,” Jihyo said and nudged the girl in the middle.

“So what did you like about it so much?”

“It’s mostly just that I was thinking of calling our fans Charmed, you know since we’re the fairies and it’s kinda connected to magic and there’s three of us. It’s silly I know I-”

“No I think it could be cool,” Chaeyoung cut her off, “any other suggestions?”

“Well we were talking about Godmothers, but I don’t know.”

Chaeyoung put her arm across Dahyun’s shoulders and laid her head on her, “Whatever you guys decide, I’m sure it will be special to the fans.”  
The girls talked a bit more about how funny it would be if Momo could see the future and still make the same stupid things she does nevertheless.

“I really should have put on some make up by now, it’s already 3pm, ” Jihyo said.

“Oh come on! It’s your free day,” Chaeyoung shouted after her friend that started walking towards the bathroom once again.

“Beauty doesn’t rest, young one!”

Chaeyoung and Dahyun just sat on the floor, Dahyun safely placed in Chaeyoung’s arms and the younger girl could swear she saw tears forming in her eyes as they continued watching videos from her fans. They laughed throughout the whole video of Dahyun dancing randomly to various songs, Dahyun laughed from embarrassment, while Chaeyoung genuinely found it funny.

And while it was nice and comforting and she felt safe, Dahyun also still felt alone. Chaeyoung was universally loved by mostly everyone she came across with. She could never understand how it felt when the people that you were trying to make happy everyday constantly put you down and thought you weren’t as good as everyone else kept telling you. After all, she worked to improve herself and to please the fans and bring joy into their lives. It just hurt. And Chaeyoung couldn’t understand how that felt, for which Dahyun was immensely grateful.

“Jihyo, I just-” Sana said as she came bursting through the door, “Oh it’s you…”

“Hey Sana,” Chaeyoung said while Dahyun avoided eye contact.

“She’s in the bathroom,” Dahyun said and shifted in Chaeyoung’s arms as she felt restless.

“I needed to talk to her… I forgot you were friends,” Sana said looking directly at Dahyun.

Then Dahyun lifted her gaze. She looked right towards Sana’s eyes and met her stare, she looke inside those deep brown eyes that gave out no emotion, at least none that Dahyun could or wanted to pick up.

“I’m allowed to have friends, you know,” she said monotonously.

“Debatable.”

Dahyun took a deep breath as she licked her lips, “Go talk to her, I’ll leave,” she said as she got up, leaving Chaeyoung arm hanging in the air, “I don’t feel like fighting right now.” And she walked past the girl, brushing a shoulder against her.

Chaeyoung looked at her groupmate and shook her head, “Do you really have to be a bitch to her all the time?”

“No, I just want to be.”

 

 

 

Dayhun left back to her hotel room where she was met with Nayeon’s presence, which was surprising to say the least.

“Hey,” the older girl said, “I have to say something.”  
Dahyun shrugged and pointed towards the bed as if asking if they were to sit there, which Nayeon picked up on and followed her instructions.

“I just wanted to apologize,” the older girl said.

“Wait, what for?” she asked in a confused whisper.

“You might have noticed I wasn’t really that nice to you,” Nayeon said, keeping her eyes firmly looking at Dahyun.

“Might have.”

“Look I know this doesn’t excuse anything, but you must know that I’ve always been a friend of Sana, I had no relationship with you. So I just- I took her side in hating you just because of it. And that was wrong.”

“Please don’t tell me Jihyo told you to say this!”

“Jeongyeon actually, but she didn’t tell me I should apologize, she just pointed out that I might be slightly unfair to you. And that got me thinking,” she gulped, “I haven’t really given you a chance and if I started talking like Sana about the girl I know nothing about I must be losing my mind,” Nayeon said and got a bag of gummy bears, that Dahyun recognized as the one she bought earlier that day, out of her pocket, “so I was thinking we shared them while we get to know each other.”

“You know what? That actually wouldn’t be as bad as the rest of my day,” Dahyun said with a big grin on her face.

“Yeah?”

“Absolutely! And honestly, Nayeon, there was no need to apologize. I get it, you saw your friend get mad at me and just tried to protect her by hating me too. There’s no hard feelings for you.”

“No, I shouldn’t have just treated you like that, especially since I don’t know anything about what happened between you two.”

Dahyun shifted on the bed and shot Nayeon a pair of lifted eyebrows, “You don’t?”

“No, she never really talked about it,” Nayeon shrugged, “she probably only told Mina or Momo or-”

“No, Momo doesn’t know,” Dahyun started shaking her head furiously.

“Are you sure? Cause they are pretty close and all.”

“I don’t see Momo still being friends with me if she did know…” Dahyun said and pursed her lips.

Nayeon mirrored her behaviour and moved her head to the side, “Looking at you two, I’m sure you both found ways to hurt each other.”

The girls were sitting right next to each other and shared stories, laughed and almost criedd a couple of times, starting when Nayeon told Dahyun about her car accident and how her leg still feels a bit weak.

“Let’s play 20 questions to get things going,” Nayeon suggested.

“How about 10 questions, I kinda have to work out earlier today because of the photoshoot tomorrow morning,” Dahyun said.

“Do you really work out every day?”

“Yes,” Dahyun looked at the older girl next to her, “I have to.”

“What if we did it together today, but just something light, I really could use some rest,” Nayeon said and looked at her with big puppy eyes plastered on her face and a pout that could melt anybody.

“Okay, fine, but just today!”

“Great!” she said and put up a fist in the air, “we really are much more similar than I thought…” the older girl said and Dahyun giggled at the thought.

“So, favourite colour?” Nayeon asked

“Easy, green.”

“Green is so not a creative colour!”

“It calms me down and I get creative when I’m calm so…” Dahyun said and shrugged, “yours?”

“Purple or brown, don’t really have a preference between them.”

“That’s boring!”

“At least it’s creative!” And Dahyun slightly pushed Nayeon to make her laugh.

“Okay, my turn,” Dahyun said, “How come I never ran into you at the company gym?” She truly wondered that. It had always been Jihyo, sometimes Jeongyeon or some random sleepless trainee, but never Nayeon.

“I know Jihyo goes there and she would kill me if she saw I wasn’t resting when I was supposed to. She’d yell something about how ‘overworking yourself isn’t the solution’,” she mocked their friend.

“Sounds fair, she does tend to get overprotective,” Dahyun agreed.

"Yeah, I know right? You got to love her for that though. How did you two meet exactly, I don't remember you talking before our debut?"

"Gym!" Dahyun said and laughed. It had been one of those nights for Dahyun, when she was a sleepless trainee. Her head full of worry, would she debut, would she have to go back home to find a new path in her life? And Jihyo was experienced in those thoughts. She was known for being the one who trained for 10 years, so when it came to talking Dahyun out of going crazy, Jihyo was experienced in that too.

"You two are wild!"

"Hard working, you mean?" she winked at Nayeon, "Is it my turn or yours?"

“It's mine. When did you have your first kiss?”

Dahyun chuckled and almost started speaking and then she chuckled once more. 

“Oh god it wasn’t Sana, right?” To which Dahyun just laughed.

“Was it Sana?!” Nayeon asked again.

“God no!” Dahyun said as she crossed her arms signaling how grossed out she was by the thought, “I was 14. It was a Tuesday and it rained all morning and the day before that. I know I was wearing black jeans and a yellow t-shirt and-”

“I love detailed stories but do you really remember it that clearly? Do you have one of those amazing photographic memories or something?” Nayeon laughed at Dahyun’s storytelling.

“Not really,” she laughed back, “I can barely remember our schedule!”

“Really? I make sure to memorize ours, at least for this tour, that is.”

“How so?”

“So I see when both groups are doing something together and I check up on Sana and make sure she is okay.”

“Is she?” Dahyun wondered with a shy whisper.

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

“I don’t know.Maybe," she whispered as she wasn't sure of the answer. "You can count it as a question for me if you’d like,” she said and licked her lips again.

“Honestly, I don’t know. She’s all chirpy and smiling when we hang out and then she has moments when she’s just silent. Chaeyoung said that she was just on the phone with her girlfriend all the time back at the room and she looked kinda down.”

“Wait she has a girlfriend?” Dahyun was surprised to hear, “I haven’t heard a single rumour about it!”

“Fuck, I wasn’t supposed to say that. It’s just something lowkey, if anyone asks, you heard it from Jihyo!” Nayeon looked at her suggestively.

“If anyone asks, I haven’t heard it from anybody, because I wasn’t even asking about her,” Dahyun returned the same look.

“Deal.”

“Do you see us already having secrets together? Just like real friends!” F.A.I.R.Y.’s leader said and tapped Nayeon’s shoulder.  
“We don’t even need all 10 questions to bond!”

“Want to just go workout and get more sleep?” Dahyun suggested.

“Please! But we are finishing this eventually,” Nayeon said and got off the bed, “I have to ask Jihyo where she got the gummy bears from because these are delicious!”

 

As she got back from the gym, Dahyun was all sweaty and started looking for her phone to set a timer for shower, still something she was used to doing during her trainee years when they got a limited time of hot water at the dorm. Some habits die hard, they say.

As she unlocked it, she saw she had 12 unanswered calls from her managers so she quickly called him back.  
“I hope you were working hard and that’s why you didn’t answer,” the manager joked around. She knew how hard working Dahyun was and often told her to stop working so hard because she’s just going to exhaust herself, but the young leader rarely listened.

“I was in the gym with Nayeon, what’s going on?” She could hear the breathing from the other side of the phone, “Just tell me already.”  
“Have you seen any comments lately,” she started and before Dahyun could interject she spoke again, “and don’t tell me you don’t read them because we both know better.”

“I- yeah I read some stuff online, but what about it?”  
“You’ll have to do something but you are not going to like it,” the manager said.

“Just tell me” Dahyun begged.

“Remember when you and Sana yelled at each other?”

“Which time?” Dahyun joked around to lighten the mood.

“After the first fansign. Some fans recorded it and it’s spreading like crazy.”  
Just by the tone of her voice Dahyun could sense that she wouldn’t be asking anything of her if it wasn’t the best or the only thing to do. “I’m not sure I’m liking where this is going!”

“It’s actually bad for both of your images. You were supposed to be civil with each other when you’re outside of the hotel!” The manager started explaining.

“But she approached me! How is that bad for my image?” Dahyun couldn’t believe what was happening. Once again, Sana would be the sole reason for her demise.

“Well she is the nation’s sweetheart after all,” the manager reminded her.

“So what do we do about it?”

“You have to be seen hanging out with Sana.”  
“No.” Dahyun was not having any of that. That is where she drew the line. Yes she was okay with working herself to death, countless sleepless hours, not eating, having her scalp burn because of all the different hair colours, even touring with the girl, but being forced to act like someone’s friend was not something she was comfortable with.

“It’s just once, we already talked to their managers and they said they can set it up.”

“The answer is still no,” Dahyun said.

“Look, kid, we are giving you a hand here, take it, because you need it. Your public image is not the best right now, mostly because everyone thinks you hate Sana.”  
“And I do.”

“Well you’re not really in a position to do that, are you?” the manager made some points, Dahyun knew that. She knew all about it, how it could affect her career, her future.

“Just do it for Momo and Tzuyu, they need the good publicity too,” manager said, begging Dahyun to take the deal.

“Fine, but we do it on my terms!”

“Thank you, Dahyun! We’ll set it up soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was later than expected since work has been crazy this past two weeks so thank you for reading and enjoying this story:)  
> Feel free to share your thoughts!  
> Who do you like so far? What do you think will happen when Sana and Dahyun are forced to hang out?  
> I just know I'm really going to enjoy writing the next chapter!  
> until next time,  
> rei.


	5. Drawing the Line pt.2

There it was, the dreaded moment of Dahyun meeting Sana once again. She got out of her car as she drove to the spot they were supposed to meet at. She looked around and saw that the street was almost empty, just a few people walking up and down and she saw the restaurant. The Gray Worm, as in the name of the restaurant, looked like it didn’t quite belong there. All the other buildings had walls that looked like they would fall off any minute and weeds growing in front of their doors, but their spot was a different story. Facade that smelled of fresh paint and the windows that reflected light onto the other side of the street. She walked towards it and as she got closer and closer, the louder it got, all those people from inside talking loudly, the music making sounds Dahyun barely recognized anymore, all of it made her nervous. Not scared, just nervous about how the day would end.

She didn’t like to be around so many people, she much preferred the quietness and peacefulness of smaller groups, so when she walked into the dark lit restaurant, her stomach almost turned inside her body, for the people were loud and there were many and she didn’t know where to go and it was all so confusing. But she mustered through it and searched for Sana. She figured the girl would be sitting somewhere around the fireplace since she was surely sent from hell. But she looked and it wasn’t her.

The waitress walked right past her with something that vaguely smelled like chicken and Dahyun almost got convinced to drop the whole thing and follow the smell of chicken and just leave afterwards. She looked where the waitress was headed and Dahyun was almost thankful she walked right past two girls that were staring at Dahyun and waited for her to come. She took a quick breath, collected herself and walked over there, remembering it was all pretend and she had to act nice and friendly. She was grateful Sana wasn’t alone though. At least now it wouldn’t be as awkward and now they can actually ignore each other without it looking weird.

The two girls stood up and went to greet her. She went towards Mina and gave her a hug, which the older girl reciprocated, her arms wrapping around her tiny body. It’s not like she didn’t know Mina, they’ve met before, they just never had the time to get to know each other, nonetheless, she was extremely happy to see her.

Then she went to hug the other girl, Sana. She put up her arms around her neck and to bring her closer to her, the smell of her shampoo reminded her of coconuts, the smell that still lingered in her mind after all those years. She closed her eyes as she wasn’t met with a hug back.

“Hug her back, Sana,” she could hear Mina softly whisper.

“Don’t. Your fans aren’t going to like me either way,” Dahyun said, still huggin the oldest girl.

“Because they have good taste,” Sana said bluntly as she backed away from the hug and sat back at the table and the other girls followed.

“It’s really nice seeing you again, Mina,” Dahyun tried to ease the tension.

“Don’t get me wrong, I would absolutely prefer staying inside and reading a good book, or just simply catch up on some sleep, but something tells me I’d be left jobless if it were just the two of you,” Mina said and took a sip of water from the glass in front of her, “I’m just here to make sure neither of you and especially her do something stupid.” The her obviously referring to Sana. It was all for the best, if either of them caused a scene it would do harm to both groups, and while neither were known to do anything like it before, they hadn’t spent enough time alone to give them the opportunity to.  
“We just ordered. Didn’t really know if we should order for you too.”

"I haven't been here before so I'll just take a couple of minutes to look at the menu before-" Dahyun said

“Try kkokkomyeon, it’s good here,” Sana cut her off and Dahyun nodded to that.

None of the girls said anything after that much, just as Dahyun expected and wanted to happen. The waiter came shortly after and Dahyun ordered just as Sana suggested, after all, it did sound like something she would want to eat.  
The sound of people connecting their cutlery to the plates and chatter from the other tables was clearly heard as the girls just looked at each other, Dahyun glancing at Sana occasionally and then back at the table.

“This isn’t as awful as I imagined it would be,” Mina said and looked over to Sana who was still as silent as ever while Dahyun just smiled at her and waited for her food that arrived a moment later.

“At least the food is enjoyable,” Dahyun said and nodded her head towards Sana as if she was thanking her for the suggestion.

Sana pursed her lips but remained silent.

“Are you just not going to talk to her,” Mina turned to Sana, talking in Japanese.

“I told her what to eat, what more do you want?”

“Just try and be nice for an hour then we can talk shit about her all you want!”

Sana shrugged at Mina scolding her. “Maybe…” 

Dahyun just sat there, fully understanding everything they’ve been saying, fully pretending she didn’t have a clue about what was going on. Her eyes wandered between Mina and Sana then finally set on her dish she decided to continue swallowing what was in front of her to prevent her from saying something she wouldn’t want saying.

Mina put her cutlery on the table and opened her mouth. “She could really end up jobless if this goes wrong, don’t you realize?”

“She would never, she’s far too talented for that,” Sana just scoffed.

“Oh wow did you just compliment her?”

“No I’m just stating facts,” Sana said hurriedly, trying to catch her breath before continuing. “She wouldn’t be the face of one of the most promising girl groups of the new generation if she wasn’t talented.”

“I don’t think the fans see her that way.”

“Well they are wrong. She works hard, her rapping is pure fire, her dancing has improved so much and she can even sing a bit. I don’t see a possibility there’s no job for her.”

“Well yeah, she could at least be the one that writes music for others but-”

“A songwriter you mean?” she laughed at Mina, “She would be a great one. And she wouldn’t have to deal with all that hate.”

“If you don’t want her dealing with all the hate, why are you spreading it?”

Sana went silent. She looked down the table and then to Dahyun, who was still silently slurping her noodles, and then back to Mina.

“Did you know she helped write Missing U for us?” she said softly.

“That’s great, but you didn’t answer my question.”

Sana shrugged. She let the sound of people rambling, the chairs being moved and the freshly cut vegetables frying in the pan take over instead of her words.

“I asked Chaeyoung where she got the inspiration for the song. Apparently Dahyun did the most of the writing,” she said again.

“You just spent the last five minutes talking about how great she is… why are you still so unreasonably mean to her? After all this time?” Mina lifted her hands and sighed

“Is it really unreasonable?”

Mina shook her head. “Maybe if you ever told me why I wouldn’t feel like that…”

“Maybe that would just make me feel worse…” Dahyun could barely pick up what she was saying due to it being said so quietly.

“I know you still blame her for what happened to Momo but-”

“Just drop it already! I just don’t want her anywhere near me, is that so hard to understand?” Sana said and slightly got out of her seat. She was huffing.

“Fine, but just be nice for now, we can talk shit about her later,” Mina calmed her down.

“We can do it right here in front of her too," Sana joked around.

“That would be rude.”

"It's not like she wouldn't deserve it!"

Mina sighed, "Whatever happened between you two better be awful enough for you to act like a damn asshole!" 

"I'm not acting like an asshole!"

"You're right, you are one." The girls have been talking so long their food cooled down. "You two used to be really tight and happy together all the time. How did you go wrong?" 

Sana took a deep breath, "Some people are just talented at ruining things," she smiled, but the look in her eyes gave away that the smile was really there just so it would hurt less.

Dahyun saw that as a good excuse to jump in the conversation. “Anyway, the food is really good here,” she said in Korean, making sure the other two girls were still completely oblivious to the fact that she spoke Japanese.

“Yes it is, didn’t know you were a fan of spicy food,” Mina tried striking a conversation with the younger one.

“I am, or I was. Not so much anymore…” she said, “excuse me while I go to the bathroom.”

“Oh thank god, I have to go too,” Mina said.

“You could have gone before if it was that urgent,” Sana said and shook her head with her eyes closed.

“And leave you two alone? That’s a great idea!”

The two girls left to find the bathroom and left Sana alone as she was too occupied by her own thoughts to eat. She listened to the music played in the background or she tried to at least, her own mind drowned the sound of the music, all she heard was people talking and constant screaming in her head. She tried concentrating on the conversation of the table nearby but all she heard was a woman talking to her son about the importance of studying.

“Thank you for at least trying to be nice today,” said Mina to Dahyun as they both got out of the bathroom stalls.

Dahyun checked her reflection and fixed her hair, completely concentrated on a strand that just didn’t want to fall in the right place. “I’m just doing this for my group.”

“Clearly,” Mina said as she was reapplying her lipstick. “You guys have a bright future ahead of you.”

“Thanks,” she said and tried fixing her hair again.

The sound of the door closing woke her up from her thoughts and she looked around to see an old lady walk out the bathroom.

“Are you thinking about dying your hair again?” Mina asked due to the fact her blue colour had almost completely disappeared.

Dahyun turned around quickly to face her. She lifted her head up and met her eyes. “You don’t have to be nice. There are no cameras here,” she said and waved around the room pretending to look for the cameras.

“I was just trying to be friendly, I’m sorry if I-”

Dahyun pursed her lips and lifted her hands in defeat. “You don’t like me. There’s no need to act friendly,”with confusion in her voice ever so prominent.

“Look,” Mina started saying. Her eyes looked as soft as the hands with which she was holding onto Dahyun’s shoulders as she stepped closer to the girl. “I am not Sana. So you, you don’t have to take it out on me or make it seem like we have some sort of a feud going on,” she said calmly, the look of determination pierced through Dahyun’s body.

“What do you want me to say? Huh? That I can’t wait to get to know you? That I’m so looking forward to another person putting all the blame of this world on me? Someone else telling me it’s all my fault? Because I can’t say that, I won’t let anyone el-”

And Mina stepped away from her, slightly pushed Dahyun from her to be quite honest. She cut her off as she put her hand straight up in front of her face. “No Dahyun. I wanted to be nice because Momo is my friend and this whole thing has been hurting her for far too long. I want the both of you, Sana and you, to get your shit together and stop hurting my friend!”

And with those words she walked out of the bathroom, leaving a confused Dahyun with her mouth open and her mind completely blank.

As they returned to the table, the lunch got even more awkward than it was. Now none of the girls seemed enthusiastic about speaking to each other, they all just kept looking at the food they’ve barely touched.

“Lost your appetite?” Sana asked both of the girls sitting at the table who just looked at each other before quickly turning away. Sana caught the glance Dahyun gave her and made sure the next time she catches her she won’t look away. “I guess so…,” she said to herself before she started eating again. Then she stopped for a while, saying she just needed to catch her breath before continuing eating the delicious dish served in front of her. She ate for what felt like eternity for all the girls present.

“Can you eat any slower?” Mina said in Japanese.

“Oh so now that it’s awkward for you, you don’t want to stay any longer? Gotcha!” Sana said in Korean and looked at both of the girls with a big smirk covering her face. And she made sure to eat even slower.

 

It wasn’t long after the lunch when Momo and Tzuyu returend to the room to find Dahyun staring at the ceiling alone in their room. They had been preparing themselves to have to endure another session about how awful Sana is and to see their leader completely silent was surprising, to say the least.

“So how was it?” Tzuyu was the first to brave up and ask something.

And Dayhun just slowly lifted her hand and gave her a thumbs up. Her face lacked any emotions, the blanket covering her curled as if she was holding on to it underneath.

“Was the food good?” now it was Momo’s turn to ask and now Dahyun just nodded. Momo and Tzuyu looked at each other, neither really knew what to do in that situation. Sure, Dahyun also had moments when she was completely tired and couldn’t even mutter out a word, contrary to a popular belief, she was indeed a human being. But this look on her reeked of something other than tiredness.

“We saw the pictures all over the internet,” Momo tried again as Tzuyu joined Dahyun on her bed, sitting right besides the girl. “The one of your hug is going viral right now and the fans are loving it. They are loving you, Dahyun!” The Korean girl heard everything she was saying but she just shook her head and sighed.

“This could be huge for us,” Tzuyu said and put a hand on Dahyun’s leg. She just gulped and licked her lips before she took a breath to say something. “We’re here to listen to you Dahyun, or just be there for you if you don’t want to talk.”

“She doesn’t know I speak Japanese,” Dahyun whispered.

“Huh?” Momo said as she threw Tzuyu a puzzled look.

“Neither of them do…”

“What are you talking about Dahyunie?” Tzuyu said as she looked over to Dahyun.

“How come? Do you never talk about me? With Mina? With Sana? Like I’m just some piece of garbage in your lives?”

“We just avoid talking about you,” explained Tzuyu, “At least I do cause-”

“We don’t want to be in the middle of it,” Momo finished it for her.

“So you do blame me for that?”

“Blame you for what? Not getting along with Sana?”

“Am I not the reason you’re hurting? Am I not the one to blame? Just tell me the truth!”

“I don’t even know where this is coming from…” the frustration in her voice prominent

Dahyun turned her face, buried it into the pillow as she started shouting. “Who is to blame that we debuted so late other than me? I fucked everything up! No wonder you blame me!”

“Can you just listen to me! You’re not the one to blame!”

“You blame me for what happened too, don’t you?” Dahyun cried as she looked at Tzuyu, her eyes completely red and watery. The air felt like it was suffocating her and the other girls didn’t know what to do to stop it.

“Dahyun just stop now!”

“You’re exactly like her! Why don’t you call her up and talk about how awful I am? Try not to get killed so I don’t get blamed for that too!”

“That’s it! I’ve had enough. I know you’re hurting right now, but you have no right to take it out on me. Talk to me when you come back to your senses.” Momo said leaving the room and she sure remembered to slam the door shut, making the room shake.

It was silent, the sound of Momo leaving echoed around and the wind from the window the oldest girl forgot to close yet again touched Dahyun’s heated face.

“Are you going to leave too?” Dahyun made another snarky remark.

“Just to my bed,” Tzuyu said as she did exactly that, “You’re going to fall asleep any minute now and cry again when you wake up in half an hour. Nothing I haven’t seen before.”

“Fine.”

And she did fall asleep shortly after, just like Tzuyu predicted, leaving her tear stained face buried in the pillow. Tzuyu walked over as soon as she heard the snores. She got closer and took the covers to bring them over Dahyun’s shoulders. She sat next to her. Got closer. Just close enough to feel her hand shaking underneath the covers. Tzuyu put her hand above hers and the covers and held it, making the shivers Dahyun’s been feeling go away for at least a short while. “You got to let us bare it with you Dahyun. There’s no need to do it all alone,” she whispered, hopeful that one day she’d get to tell her that, hoping that one day Dahyun would want to hear it. But for now it felt enough to just be there for her.

 

 

Even though she had much more to say, she was glad she left, for it would do more harm than good talking to Dahyun in the state both of them were in. She roamed the lighted hall, wondered where to go, her eyes just searched for something to bring her to her senses. Going to Sana would be even worse, she was sure of that. What would she even say to her? That she fought with Dahyun? She would have to listen how awful Dahyun was if she said that and she didn’t want that.  
Dahyun had always been there for her. They were friends before this whole mess with Sana and they remained friends even after. But sometimes Momo wondered… Was that a mistake? Should she have just chosen one over the other?

“What are you doing here?” asked Chaeyoung, who was walking to her room as she bumped into Momo. “Have you been crying?” The older girl’s tears have been so small she barely noticed them, hell Momo didn’t even realize she was crying until it was pointed out. “Come here,” Chaeyoung said and pulled her in for a hug. Her heels stopped reaching the ground as she reached over to bring her arms around her neck. They stood there for a second as Momo closed her eyes and leaned into her touch. “Would you like to come into the room?” the younger girl asked. Momo nodded and Chaeyoung led the way with a tear stained shirt.

“Would you like some tea?” she asked and looked to see Momo holding back tears yet again. “I’m guessing that’s a no,” she said and sighed. She felt for the girl, she truly did. “Just lay down,” she said and put her on her bed.

And Momo laid there for a while, trying to catch her breath, trying to sort out what was going on in her mind while Chaeyoung stood besides and carefully watched. Her feet felt warm underneath the covers that were just long enough for her to still reach her torso. And the smell! Oh it smelt like Chaeyoung, just like she imagined it, enticing.  
It was usually Dahyun that took care of her in situations like these, but sadly she caused this so she can’t always be the savior.  
Momo looked at Chaeyoung and pouted. Her begging eyes pierced through Chaeyoung as she slowly whispered “Hold me. Please.”

“Would that make you feel better?” And Momo nodded while Chaeyoung took her place besides the older girl. She draped her arm over Momo’s stomach, putting her palm on her abdomen and slowly started petting it. She brought the girls closer to her and leaned her head on her shoulder, giving in to the temptation of being near her. They were so near, Chaeyoung could feel Momo’s heartbeat, or maybe that was just her own heart beating stronger and louder than expected.

“I don’t know how to continue this,” Momo said. Chaeyoung felt the vibrations of her voice on her chest, and strangely, she enjoyed it, wanted to feel it more and more so she whispered into Momo’s ear. “What’s wrong?” She felt for the girl, the hurt in her voice was prominent and while Chaeyoung never liked to see anyone feeling down, it was specially hard to see Momo, who had already felt like that before.

“I think I- I made a mistake… by not choosing a side…” she said in between sniffles. I should have and- and I wouldn’t be here, not like this.”

“Are you talking about Sana and Dahyun?” Chaeyoung asked and felt Momo nodding.

“And how would that turn out for you if you chose a side?” she asked as she ran her hand through Momo’s hair, the softness of it felt reassuring.

“I don’t know, but I do know that I can’t continue being a friend to both of them.”

“Can you be without them both? Because there is no way you could only choose one,” the younger girl slowly reassured Momo, who was safely tucked in her arms.

“No…” Momo huffed, “I wish I had picked a side from the beginning.”

“You would have chosen to stay with Sana back then. And you would be in a worse position than she is right now, working with Dahyun when you couldn’t stand each other.”

“Yeah…” she exhaled softly, “I guess I would.” She was right. There was no way Momo would be choosing Dahyun over Sana back then. “And if I were to choose right now?” she said and waited for a response until she would properly exhale.

“You’d choose Dahyun. ” Chaeyoung said and hugged her even tighter, brought their bodies closer. “And you’d blame her and yourself for pushing Sana out of your life and it would destroy both of your friendships.”

“But I don’t- I wouldn’t blame her for what’s going on between Sana and I!” Momo whined.

“Yes you would. You’d blame her, yourself and you’d blame Sana. And it wouldn’t be fair to any of you.”

“I’m sick of being stuck in the middle but-”

Chaeyoung shifted. Her grip on Momo’s stomach was tighter and the older girl felt completely content with that, completely happy with the closeness of their bodies. “If they had gotten along would any of it happen?”

“Well no. But what can I do about it?”

“I don’t think there’s anything to fix that,” Chaeyoung sighed, “At least not for us.”

“I just hate feeling guilty all the time about talking to one or the other. I feel like I can’t even talk about it because it might upset them. And then they still keep asking about each other and I don’t know how to answer.”

“Don’t even start it! Sana is a total pro at making me feel like I’m being interrogated whenever I come back from hanging with Dahyun!” She laughed and Momo followed her laughter. It felt so addictive.

“Oh I wish she did that to me! When we talk she just starts asking about the concerts or practices and waits until I mention her.”

“Yeah?” Chaeyoung raised her eyebrows at that, “And how do you deal with it?”

“Honestly, if I ignore it long enough she just gives up.”

“Ugh!” The both of them said at the same time and looked at each other. When their eyes met the room was full of laughter that exploded from them. Somehow, joking about how shitty the situation was made it feel not so serious, a bit lighter.

“This whole thing is just so stupid,” Momo shook her head.

“I know! It’s like you’re a kid and they are your divorced parents!”

“Oh my god! That’s exactly it!” Momo said and giggled. “Maybe they should take it to court to find out who gets custody over me!”

“Wait! That’s it!” Chaeyoung was eager to shout, “Why don’t we just make a schedule? Kinda like what Dahyun, Tzu and I have. Just so you, Mina and Sana pick like the weekends and Dahyun takes the weekdays or something, I don’t know! We could work out the details.”

“You think that could work?” Momo asked.

“I think it’s worth the try.”

“And what about the holidays?” Momo joked around, “ Who has me then?”

“Well who had you now?” The young rapper played along.

“You’re right, I’m already used to spending time with Dahyun’s family over the holidays.”

“It’s decided! Dahyun gets you for holidays!” She truned her face down and smiled into the covers, thinking that maybe, just maybe this might actually work.

“Does this schedule…” Momo said and slightly turned to face Chaeyoung, “does it include any time for you?”

“Depends,” she shyly smiled, “Do you want it to?”

“I would really like that,” Momo whispered.

“Then I think we can work something out.”

“Cause I really need someone to vent my frustrations about them with,” Momo ran her hand through her hair as she teased Chaeyoung.

“Don’t you have Tzuyu for that?” the younger girl looked at the girl in front of her.

“You’re right! I should have just asked her if you’re not interested…” Momo pouted.

“Yeah go and do that. I’ve heard her cuddles are so much better than mine.”

“And where did you hear that?”

“My unhateful roommate might have gushed over it a bit. Or a lot…” Chaeyoung shrugged.

“Didn’t know Jihyo was also interested in Tzuyu. We should probably make a schedule for them too…”

“Stop messing around you know I wasn’t talking about Jihyo.”

“Yeah I figured,” she chuckled. Her smile turned into a grin just as big as the one on Chaeyoung’s face and just as she was about to lean closer to connect the two, Chaeyoung leaned away.

“I think we should rest now since we have a concert in a couple hours,” the younger girl said while Momo nodded and turned with her back towards Chaeyoung, the girl still holding her.

“Thank you Chaeng. I really hope this could work,” Momo murmured just as she was about to fall asleep.

Chaeyoung couldn’t rest, she couldn’t fall asleep. Momo’s gentle snores sent shivers down her spine. Every part of her body felt like it was on fire as it got closer to Momo every time the girl took a breath. The feel of her skin felt electrifying, her touch magnetic and Chaeyoung quickly found her breathing being in sync with Momo’s.

 

 

“ _Im Nayeon, Yoo Jeongyeon, Sana jjang, Park Jihyo, Mina jjang, Son Chaeyoung_!” The fans shouted as the girls stood on the stage, preparing to start the concert. All of them striking a seductive pose , standing still. You could see the reflections from the jewelry they were wearing. And then, everybody goes completely silent as the lights turn on, shining just at them, flashing brighter and brighter until the whole arena became lit with oceans of lightsticks spelling Twice. The brightness of the lights made the whole atmosphere of the concert hotter, they lit them up and Twice looked like angels form whatever angle you looked at them. All dressed in white, with their hair in a high ponytail, except for Chaeyoung and Jihyo who had their hair cut too short for that.

Nayeon, as usual, started the song. Her angelic soft voice cut through the crowd and gave them chills. They moved from their formation as they turned around and started walking all over the stage. Nayeon looked at the camera, that was following her, she smirked at it making most of the audience scream with just one look.

They played an acoustic cover of one of their songs and when the prechorus, that Sana sang, came all of the girls started moving towards the center. And as the chorus hit, all of them stood together, surrounding Jihyo, who released her powerful voice and made the crowd sing the chorus with them. If you looked at each girl, you’d quickly see what they had in common during performing. All of them enjoyed it, enjoyed it when they messed up, when they hit the right note, when the fans screamed their names and when they were there, together, them and fans as one.

Then Chaeyoung came out, spitting bars like crazy, she squatted down, to see the crowd better. Everything she was saying in perfect rhythm with the piano providing the background music. Behind here moved their main dancer, Mina, just twirling around looking as elegant as always.

Last came Jeongyeon, who finished the song. Her charisma oozed all over the place just as her voiced echoed throughout the arena as she hit the last note, high enough, powerful enough, just good enough to make everyone shiver in their seats. Like always, Nayeon was there to encourage her.

Dahyun observed and wondered how they do it, how do these girls manage to make every person present feel exactly how they want them to feel. Twice had that kind of power.

“Thank you for coming today,” started Jihyo, still breathless from the first performance, “we are Twice and today we’ll be performing with F.A.I.R.Y. so look forward to a couple of performances made especially for you!”

The next song they performed was more focused on the dancing part. They started out doing some body rolls, enticing the whole crowd, making them scream out their lungs. It was like no other experience for anyone in the arena. The beat started hard and fast and their feet stomped on the ground to emphasize the song. They were completely in sync, it was truly a magical moment, six bodies all moving in the same way, giving out the same energy.

Dahyun was still there, still watching from the sidelines, still amazed at them, wondering if they would ever be as great themselves. She watched Nayeon as it was now her turn to finsih up the song they were all enjoying performing. The song should have ended on another high note but Nayeon played it safe and finished it with a soft falsetto. Like always, Jeongyeon was there to encourage her.

Almost all of the girls started coming backstage, besides Sana who was joined on the stage by Tzuyu, the two singing a powerful duet. Dahyun knew where she had to go, so she made way towards the room. She hurried so she almost knocked down Nayeon and Jeongyeon that were coming from the opposite direction, making Nayeon spill the rest of the water she was holding in her hand to drink.

“Oh hey! Great show!” she said. And when Nayeon tried to respond Jeongyeon shook her and prevented her from speaking so she just smiled and nodded back to the young leader.

“She’s resting her voice, so I’m thanking you for the both of us,” Jeongyeon said and nodded as well before the pair disappeared into their changing room.

And Dahyun kept walking until she reached her destination. What she wanted to wasn’t easy but it was something that she needed to do. She walked into the room, interrupting the conversation Momo and Mina were having. Momo stood there, with her arm around Mina’s shoulder, looked at the youngest girl and waited for her to say something.

“Hey I just-” she started and took a deep breath, “I need to apologize.”

Mina looked over to her, with her arms crossed, “To which one of us?”

“To you,” Momo said and looked at Mina and then back at Dahyun. “She’s not apologizing to me.”

“Momo-”

“You’ve hurt me D. A lot,” she cut her off and took a step forward. Touching Dahyun’s small shoulder, Momo opened her mouth again. “But you were also right. And we do need to talk, but not right now.

Dahyun stood there speechless.

“I should give you two some space.” And on that note she left the room, giving her two friends time to talk things out.

The sound of the door closing shut echoed through the room and Dahyun decided to start talking before the silence turned from awkward into unbearable. “I really am sorry. I was a jerk to you.”

“Yes you were,” Mina said and nodded.

“I believe I own you an explanation at least,” Dahyun started, “and I want to speak the truth, so here it goes. I don’t know what your deal is. Or what you want from me. All I know about you is what Tzuyu and Momo tell me and that is a lot of great stuff. And then I always see you around _her_ so… uh… what I’m trying to say is that I am not sure of your intentions and I might have forgotten to bring my walls down.”

“That actually does make sense. Doesn’t mean I like it.”, Mina said, “Honestly, I’m not your biggest fan.”

“Who would have thought,” Dahyun said and rolled her eyes.

“But at the same time, I would do nothing to cause you harm. You haven’t done anything to me and it would only hurt Momo even more. So you’ve got nothing to worry with me.”

“Thanks. That really makes me feel a lot better.”

“But I won’t hesitate if you continue acting like a jerk,” Mina warned her.

“That sounds fair,” Dahyun laughed it off, “Are we good?”

“We have never been good. But we don’t have any reason to not get along. How about we just try coexisting without any drama for now?” Mina suggested.

Dahyun gave her a thumbs up, “That’s okay with me.”

“Now excuse me while I prepare,” Mina started stretching for her performance with Momo.

“I’ll leave you be,” Dahyun said and walked out.

As she close the door, she almost tripped over Momo who was sitting next to the room they were in. “Good luck for your stage!”

“Thank you Dahyun,” Momo smiled at her, “How did the talk go?”

“I apologized and we are not trying to kill each other so I’d say it went amazing,” Dahyun said and the both girls laughed. Dahyun licked her lips and looked at Momo like a huge weight had been lifted of her shoulders. “I’m glad you don’t hate me.”

“Well I tried, wasn’t really my thing…” Momo stood up since it was about her time to go on stage.

Dahyun patted her back. “Enjoy it and take it easy alright?”

“Don’t they usually say break a leg?”

“Really funny!”

 

 

Momo and Mina took the stage and the fans’ cheering was heard throughout the entire continent of Asia. As soon as they started moving and the song became louder the fans quieted down.The movements of their performance were unique and uniformed. Both girls were making similar movements with their bodies. The up movements with legs apart was very common followed by the downward spins that were well executed. Their limbs flailing over each other and the expressions on their faces shocked the crowd. Both girls were known to be one of the greatest dancers and their collaboration was enough to make both of their bands trend on twitter for hours.

Meanwhile, Dahyun was finally relaxing in the dressing room after being done with her performance, only the encore was still set to happen. She was waiting for anyone to come and keep her company. She saw Nayeon and Jeongyeon snuck out of the venue so she counted them out and Jihyo and Chaeyoung were nowhere to be seen. That left her with Tzuyu who just finished her performance and should have been walking there soon.

She sat there, in front of the mirror, fixating on her reflection and practicing various expressions and how her features moved during it. Often she would get praised during filmings and photoshoots that she looked so natural in front of the camera and that mostly came due to long hours spent practicing in front of the mirror.

There hadn't been much time to practice lately, so every break they got she made sure was spent practicing whatever she could. And after Tzuyu yelled at her last night for practicing her singing too loudly, she made sure she'd find a good place to not bother anyone while doing it. But the dressing room was not a place for that. Too many distractions and other people around. 

She was caught in her own thoughts, trying to think of a way to move her nose without scrunching it when the door finally opened. Her gaze moved from her own reflection towards the door, that she saw in the mirror.

"Hey," greeted Tzuyu and Dahyun smiled at her and turned around just to see another girl standing besides her, Sana. her smile quickly faded and she felt her whole body boiling with rage. She nodded to the girl out of courtesy and focused back on her reflection. 

Sana and Tzuyu sat on the couch right next to the door and Dahyun couldn't help herself but to listen in on the conversation they were having. How Sana's voice sounded and how angrier she had gotten every time she'd hear the girl giggle.

"I'm so glad we worked so hard," Dahyun heard Tzuyu say, "It all ended up so beautifully!" 

"The crowd really loved it!" Sana said and hugged the youngest girl. 

Dahyun smiled, remembering how much it meant to Tzuyu to finally be able to perform an acoustic duet on stage, just like she imagined it during her trainee days. She knew how happy that made her. Everyday she worked hard to be able to perform in front of such a big crowd and their love made it even better. Dahyun understood that. Still, she felt bitter because it all happened with Sana of all people. 

Every now and then she glanced at their reflection in the mirror, most of the times she caught Sana glancing at her direction and quickly looking away before their eyes could meet. 

"I should go," said Tzuyu, "I promised Mina I'd give her a hug as soon as she was done!"

"Enjoy it," Sana giggled, "I'll just wait for Momo." And Tzuyu shut the door close, leaving the two girls alone together able to detonate the whole room with the tension between them. 

But it was all quiet. Would it be cliche to say it was almost too quiet? Sana kept looking at her phone and Dahyun still focused on her reflection, still trying to glance at the older girl, be it due to sheer fear of not knowing what Sana might do or maybe it was just because she hadn't seen her so quiet in a while. Without any snarky comment, no side eyes, nothing. 

She glanced again and this time she was met with a pair of honey brown eyes. And this time neither looked away.

"I'm glad you got to do what you dreamed of today," Sana said softly, still looking at Dahyun. 

"Thank you. It felt great," Dahyun said back, still looking at her through the mirror, with a small smile forming on her face. 

It felt weird, talking to her, looking at her. Being nice to her. And her being nice to Dahyun. She went through the short exchange once again. Should she have said anything else? Could she even say anything else? She was pretty sure even if she tried words just wouldn't form, at least not saying something nice. She wasn't used to it anymore. 

She took a quick breath and swaddled on her seat. 

"So you really haven't told anyone about it?" Dahyun said and turned around to see the smile that was on Sana's face fade away once again. 

"Why would I? It's not like it was anything important, right?" She said bluntly, while her eyes gave away a different story that showed she was almost on the verge of tears. 

Dahyun got out of her seat and started walking towards the girl. "It meant the world to me that we were okay, Sana."

"Well congrats at ruining that too," Sana said as she quickly stood up and went for the door, "I'll just wait for Momo outside the room," and she walked out. 

Dahyun was left there, alone in the room, completely speechless. trying to find a reason to not give in to the temptation, to calm down. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's finally here! feel free to comment:)  
> How are we feeling about the story so far? What do you think happened between them?  
> hope you enjoyed it!  
> until next time, rei


	6. Drawing the Line: rise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one talks some about the past, i tried and it took so long omggg

Kim Dahyun, JYP’s (not so) hidden gem.

_Since the end of the last year many people have asked themselves, what is the purpose of another JYP produced girl group? Twice is doing better than ever, bringing moneey and publicity into the company. We, as fans, wondered why? Why are the three Twice rejects getting their opportunity to debut? There was no need for F.A.I.R.Y., many said. They were not talented enough, even more people said. They won’t last long, they don’t have what it takes to make it. And ever since the end of last year, when they debuted their song Maze, they have proven all of us wrong._  
_What was thought to be a flop turned our worlds around and revealed itself to be a hidden gem. Today, allure is joined by the leader of the so called hidden gem and one of the most promising stars in the entertainment industry, Kim Dahyun._

 

 **Welcome! Half a year after the release, Maze finally got 100 million views on youtube.  
**Yes I saw that this morning actually! It’s crazy still, after all those long years training, you know, when the members and I thought we would never debut, to come out like that! We actually went out to celebrate and when we came back the girls from Twice surprised us with a cake.

 

 **A very eventful morning for you then!  
**You could say so!

 

 **Speaking of Twice, you guys are currently touring with them. I’m guessing you guys all know each other, so how does that feel like?  
**It feels really great actually! They are one of the best seniors anyone would want. But it was weird at first, since we are all friendly with each other in our personal lives, to work with them so closely. The relationships we have with them as artists are different than those we share as friends. I, myself, am very close with Chaeyoung so when neither of us are working we often hang out together and when we are doing interviews or we have other appearances together it’s not Dahyun and Chaeyoung, Dubchaeng, anymore, but the senior and the rookie. It was just hard separating those two at the beginning.

 

 **So your on stage personality differs from the real Kim Dahyun?  
**Not really that much. I’m still that goofy, quiet kid. But when I’m around Chaeyoung I sometimes have to hold myself back to not disrespect the artist and their fans, obviously she wouldn’t mind me acting like we usually act in private, but I, and I believe many others as well, would find it inappropriate to do so.

 

 **The fans have sent you specifically a large amount of hate online. Why do you think that was?  
**I would have to say that many of them probably think that we debuted with a sole reason to replace Twice. Which was not the case. Twice has plenty of things planned for them in the future. So I guess we, or I, intimidated them. I’ve seen a lot of people saying I wasn’t talented or that my singing is not good enough. I would have to partially agree with them on that though.

 

 **Are you saying you don’t believe you have enough talent?  
**No! _laughter_ I’m saying there is plenty room for improvement on my part, especially vocally. But the truth is, you don’t have to be talented to find success as an entertainer. Sure, it does help a lot, but hard work surpasses everything.

 

 **There were also comments saying you don’t work hard. Would you like to address them?  
** Absolutely! All of them stem from a certain incident from a certain show. I assure all of you, I work really hard. Not as hard as I would like though, since everyone constantly keeps reminding me to rest, which I am trying to do. Nayeon and Jihyo especially have helped me with understanding that rest is the pinnacle of working hard! If you don’t rest well, you can’t work harder every day.  
And well, most of you commenting could be really hard workers but that doesn’t mean much if you don’t also respect other people.

 

 **Now let’s move on to talking more about your group!  
**I would greatly appreciate that! _l_ _aughter_

 

 **All three of you come from different countries, with different languages and cultures. Has that ever affected the chemistry you girls have?  
**No, not really. We are all girls with the same dreams first and then everything else second. It’s mostly really hard hearing them talk about how they miss home so I always tried to make them as comfortable as possible here. Even when we were trainees we spent holidays with my family so they didn’t feel lonely if they couldn’t get back home. My brother would set up a video call with their families and we’d all eat dinner together! And now when debuted we still spend holidays together, we truly feel like a real family.

 

 **You have shot up to number 17 in girl group popularity ranking, and you took the 37 th spot in female idol brand reputation for this month! These are amazing acccomplishments!  
**Thank you.

 

 **But it hasn’t always been like that for your group, has it?  
**Well, we were supposed to debut two years before our actual debut, for starters. When it got pushed back, that really hurt. I took it personally, it made me feel like I was doing everything wrong. Put the whole blame on my shoulders, since I was the chosen leader, I was supposed to be the one responsible when stuff like that happened, right? But thankfully, the members stood by my side and supported me. We worked even harder after that and pushed through, just like we pushed through the initial hurt of being eliminated in Sixteen. We had each others’ backs back then and that continues on even today. F.A.I.R.Y. bond lives on.

 

 **And the reward is so much sweeter! What is your favourite thing that comes with being an idol?  
**Making other people happy. That’s the biggest dream I ever had! That is the most gratifying thing, the one that pushes me to work harder everyday. Being able to bring smiles to their faces.

 

 **Would you agree that the new generation of idols really seems to put their personalities before anything else?  
**Absolutely! And it’s not just the idols, the companies have taken a big step forward with abolishing the dating ban! No, I’m not happy about this because I am dating anybody, I don’t even have the time to do so! I just believe that everyone should have a choice to decide for themselves. And by taking away their choice, the companies used to send out a message that they own us. Now that it’s gone, I’ve seen more idols talking about their love life and it’s a great thing. This decision has given us back our humanity and independence and in turn made us even better people. So I’m really grateful for that.

 

 **So what does the future have in store for F.A.I.R.Y.?  
**Hopefully, making more people happy _laughter._ I’m not sure if I am allowed to say this, but we are planning on coming back this summer with a full album. The songs are mostly recorder already. The members have helped write the lyrics and I even produced most of them but we’ll see if they decide to put them on the album after all.

 

 **Do you have a personal favourite from the album?  
**Yes, it's a b-side song I wrote called Guilty. 

 

 **I’m betting you made a lot of people happy with your answers! Thank you for stopping by and good luck on your tour!  
**Thank you and goodbye!

 

 

 _It was about a year after Sixteen finished and around half a year since Twice debuted and Dahyun still found herself in the same familiar practice room. Still a trainee, still training. Evaluations were just around the corner and she couldn’t afford to slack off for even a minute. Ever since the show was finished she seemed even more determined to succeed, more determined to work hard._  
_She put on the music on shuffle and hoped no Twice songs would come up. Not because she was jealous of the girls, but sometimes, even if she didn’t like to admit it, it still hurt, hurt to be remembered of all the things she was told. That she wasn’t good enough, that they didn’t believe she would be able to succeed. And she was determined to prove them wrong. That she was good enough, that she would succeed. If not now, then eventually._

_As the first note in 4 Walls by f(x) hit Dahyun started swaying to the rhythm. She never lost confidence in her dancing abilities since that was a thing she was praised about the most during Sixteen. She’s heard that her rapping was not on par with someone like Chaeyoung and her vocal ability was… well, how do you put it? Nonexistent. It stung a bit, but at least she still had dancing._

_She counted the beat in her head._

_5,6,7,8._

_And she dipped low, looking in the mirror, trying to make herself appear seductive. The longing she gave away with her gaze was nothing short of spectacular._

_She held her breath to prepare herself, to get her body used to less oxygen. And then the rap part came. That was her moment to shine, her moment to show everyone she can improve and she can be a star. She can succeed. She took a deep breath and started rapping. It started out flawlessly, her smirk got bigger and she loved seeing the energy she was oozing in the reflection. Then it came to the middle of the verse._

_She stumbled on a few words and all the good energy she had until then just vanished. She was pissed. At herself, at the words, at the mirror…_

_She started the song over again and as before everything went well until the rap part. Now she messed up the words in the beginning. So she just replayed the rap part again. And again. And again._

_And again._

_“Fuck!” she yelled out of frustration. She stomped her feet and ran a hand through her hair, pulling it lightly. She was up all night memorizing the words, enunciating it correctly, trying to find the correct rhythm. And to just come down there to practice it and failing every single time? Not really her proudest moment. In that moment every critique that was said to her replayed itself back into her mind._

_“You’re just okay. But you might never be a star.”_

_“I don’t really see you on stage, you look like an mc to me.”_

_“You should try singing next time because that wasn’t it.”_

_“Did you practice at all?”_

_Her breathing fastened and the sweat on her forehead wasn’t just from all the dancing._

_“Fuck!” she yelled out again, “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”_

_She sat on the wooden floor rereading the lyrics from her phone._

_The door busted open and revealed a friendly face. “ I thought I heard familiar screaming,” Sana said. Dahyun averted her gaze from the phone and shot her a frustrated smile._

_“I suck!” she said._

_“That’s good to know!” Sana teased the younger girl._

_“Not like that!” Dahyun said and scoffed, “I just can’t get this part right.” Sana moved closer to her and picked the spot on the floor closest to Dahyun to sit next to. The silence between was comfortable and the closeness brought them back to their days before the idol life._

_“Try performing it for me. I’d really love to hear it,” Sana said while Dahyun looked at her and smiled to herself. The young trainee lifted her head up and agreed to it. She picked herself up and started doing the rap part. She almost got through it entirely but sadly, she messed up the last part. Again._

_Just as she was about to get angry at her mistakes again she saw Sana clapping excitedly. The smile on her friend’s face made her calm down and wanted to try it again._

_“That was really good!” Sana cheered for Dahyun._

_“But it wasn’t perfect…”_

_“It doesn’t have to be perfect,” Sana put her hand on Dahyun’s shoulder and stared into her brown eyes, feeling like it was just the two of them against the world, “it has to be uniquely you to be great!” Dahyun shook her head._

_“I have to be perfect to succeed Sana!” Dahyun said while Sana wanted nothing more than to say that she was already perfect to her. Perfect in every single way imaginable. She loved how hardworking the younger girl was and her determination was beyond anything she had ever seen. There was no point in arguing with the smaller girl, Sana knew she wouldn't stop chasing her dream of perfection._

_“Do you want to try again?” she asked. And Dahyun tried again. She went in even harder than before, giving out more energy and fire. The room felt electric because of it. She danced simultaneously as she rapped, looking at the mirror, or rather the person sitting in front of it. She messed up the words in the first verse again and this time instead of stopping and trying again she met Sana’s smile and finished the whole verse, laughing, smiling, being genuinely happy with herself and her performance._

_Breathless. That is how she felt after the performance. Sana jumped up and congratulated with her hands draping around her neck as she pressed their bodies together. “That was excellent!”_

_“But I-” the older girl cut Dahyun off by putting a finger on her mouth gently._

_“Don’t you dare say that you messed up the lyrics. That goes unnoticed when you bring that kind of energy as you did right now!” she looked at her with those bright eyes and a smile even brighter, “The way you perform cannot be taught, Dahyun.” she came even closer to the girl and she would hug her even tighter if it were possible. She put her head on her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “You’re special Kim Dahyun.”_

_Breathless. That is how Kim Dahyun felt as the air Sana let out hit her cheek and her soft lips brushed against her ear lobe. She closed her eyes and smiled in the place between Sana's shoulder and neck, feeling at ease. The older girl’s hugs vanquished any kind of anger she still felt._

_“Don’t ever forget who you are,” Sana whispered again, her breath hitting the same spot on Dahyun’s cheek as before, sending even more shivers through Dahyun’s body and mind that was now completely blank. All worries disappeared, all bad comments left, all that mattered right now was her and Sana, standing together, their bodies intertwined._

_The only thing on her mind were Sana’s words that echoed through her._

_She's special._

_"Now, let's see the dance," Sana encouraged her as she let go of the girl, visibly blushing and Dahyun took notice of her red chubby cheeks._

_Dahyun waited for a brief moment to collect herself and catch her breath. She looked at herself in the mirror but she was unable to focus when she saw a glimpse of Sana looking at her like she's the biggest most important ting in her life._  
_She hit play and started dancing. She kept her gaze on the mirror, partially because it helped her be aware of her body more but mostly it was because she couldn't stop looking at Sana and her rosy lips and her bright smile and flushed cheeks and her silky blonde hair and how everything about her was just perfect. To Dahyun, everything about her was close to perfection, the one thing she didn't like was how far away the girl was from her. Even if she stood a step away from her, it wasn't close enough. She wanted to go back to her embrace, back into those strong caring arms._

_So she danced for her, with her on mind. Everytime she lifted her arms the only thing she thought was Sana's arms underneath her's brushing all over her body, making her feel safe. She spun around and caught a glimpse of Sana's eyes trailing everywhere she went. She tried to make it look even more seductive than before, after all she had to do it, she danced for her._

_Dahyun looked at the mirror once again and caught Sana looking at her expressions. She decided to be bold and winked at the girl, making her cheeks turn a brighter shade of red than before._

_"So how was that?" Dahyun asked her while smirking._

_"It was good but you could still use some improvements," the older girl teased her back and wiped away some of the sweat on Dahyun's forehead with the younger girl's shirt, revealing most of her lower abdomen._

_"Want to show me how?" Dahyun asked and moved her head, motioning for Sana to take the floor. The older girl accepted the challenge and played the song. She looked at Dahyun and the trainee was sure she could get lost in that hungry gaze until the end of her life. Her daydreaming about it got interupted as Sana offered her a hand to join her on the dancefloor. Which Dahyun quickly did. The pair danced together synchronized. Their movements matcing perfectly._

_Sana turned towards her and smiled, "I think your hips are a little stiff at this part."_

_"They are not!" Sana giggled at her pouty response and Dahyun wondered if perhaps that was the sweetest sound she had ever heard._

_"Let me show you how," Sana said as she moved in closer, putting her hands all over Dahyun's tiny waist. She moved her in the rhythm of the song as she kept the eye contact. She could see Dahyun was blushing har, hell even the people in the nearby building could see it at that point. Dahyun felt Sana's hands move underneath her shirt and the warm feeling her hands left as they fell in contact with her bare skin was killing her slowly. She saw it coming, even though all she saw was still the sweetness of Sana's brown pupils._

_Dahyun couldn't help herself. "Was that any better?" she asked as she took a small step in Sana's direction._

_"That was almost great." Sana took a step to bring them closer._

_"And what would make it great?" Another step._

_"I could think of a few things." Their foreheads were touching and Dahyun felt Sana's craving gaze through her closed eyes. Everything other than them became irrelevant. Only the sound of their breathing, their hearts beating simultaneously. If she even lifted her head her lips would crash against Sana's and her whole body itched to do it. She licked her lips to embrace the moment before she moved forward. Before she could do it she felt a softness on her lips that could only compare with Sana. As Sana closed the distance between them all Dahyun could think about was that it wasn't like she ever expected it to be. The softness she expected from Sana couldn't compete with the gentleness with which Sana kissed her. And she didn't hesitate to kiss her back._

_Dahyun opened her mouth a bit more and deepened their kiss, making Sana moan inside her mouth. The older girl's hands travelled even further under Dahyun's shirt as she put her hand underneath Sana's hair and moved her head slightly._

_She remembered how she used to wonder how Sana's lips tasted and now that she tasted even better than imagined, Dahyuned wondered how she could ever live without getting a taste of them again._

_It felt special.  She felt special._

 

It was late afternoon and as usual Dahyun was working out. She was laying down on the mat in their hotel room attempting a new exercise Nayeon recommended. 

"You're back from your date already!" she said to Tzuyu who just walked through the door. 

"That was not a date." Tzuyu said with a blank face. Dahyun laughed it off and rolled over to help herself stand up and properly great her.

"Uh huh... so what did you two do?" she questioned them. 

Tzuyu shrugged. Sometimes it felt like Dahyun just wanted her to say what she wants and she would drop the whole thing and sometimes Tzuyu did exactly that. But not in that moment. "We just walked around and observed the nature. She showed me a lake she saw the last time they were there." 

"I don't know, but that sounds like a date to me," Dahyun giggled and continued working out, "When will you just admit you and Mina are dating so we can move on?"

"But we are not dating," Tzuyu shook her head, "That's like me admiting something that isn't true. Like you saying you don't hate Sana. I'll say we are dating when you admit to that. What do you say?" she fired back. 

"That's going to happen around the time the Earth stops being round."

"The Earth is actually more of an oval shape though..." the tall girl bluntly said and Dahyun laughed it off.

"You know what I mean! I can see myself hating her for the rest of my life," the leader said and started on working out her leg muscles. Tzuyu shook her head at that. Lately the things Dahyun focused on consisted off hating Sana and working out. In that order. And Tzuyu wondered, could it ever change?

 

_"It's such an honour to meet you!" Dahyun greeted Sana who just arrived wearing a black mask, white hoodie and a comfortable pair od jeans, "could I maybe get an autograph for my future daughter?" she continued with the teasing. Sana smiled at her and went in for a hug. It was night time, the perfect time for them to go out and not get swarmed with people asking for selfies and autographs and taking pictures of Sana iwthout her permission._

_The sky was covered with stars and Dahyun was still sure that the one shining the brightest stood in front of her. Her long blonde hair was covered with a baseball cap and her face was covered with a smile reserved only for Dahyun. "I've almost missed your goofiness!" Sana said._

_"Are you saying you don't like me being goofy?" Dahyun pouted._

_"It's okay sometimes," Sana teased her._

_"Just sometimes? I can't believe a girl whose sense of humour consists of inappropriate sexual jokes and weird noises is attacking my goofiness!"_

_"But you said you loved hearing my weird noises!" Sana tapped the trainee's shoulder making the younger girl shuffle her feet while giggling._

_Dahyun grinned, her eyes looking only at Sana, "Yeah, I do. I love every part about you," she said the last part so silently Sana would have missed it if she paid any attention to anything besides the dreamy girl in front of her. She was sure her face would hurt from all the smiling at the end of the day._

_"Shall we go then?" Sana said as she reached out for Dahyun's hand to hold._

_"Where are we going?"_

_"That's for you to find out!" Sana winked at Dahyun as she gave her a piece of paper. The young girl looked confused as to what was actually going on._

_"That's a map!"_

_Sana squeezed her hand and laughed at the confusion written all over her face, "Very observant!"_

_"Did you draw this?"_

_"Chaeyoung did. I tried but it didn't look like a map."_

_"You told Chaeyoung about this?" Dahyun looked shocked since they talked they would keep whatever was going on between them only to themselves._

_"Only I know what's the purpose of the map. And Mina but that's because she helped me set this whole thing up. What's going on between us is still only between us, don't worry." Sana reassured her._

_"I really appreciate all the effort you put into this. Would you mind sharing with me what exactly is this."_

_"A date!"_

_"I know that, silly," Dahyun giggled, "What am I supposed to do with the map?"_

_"You see those spots marked with a heart?" Sana waited for Dahyun to look at the map and nodded before she continued, "I hid some gifts for you at each spot and it's up to you to find them."_

_"That actually sounds romantic." The voice in Dahyun's voice gave away a hint of surprise._

_Sana started playing with Dahyun's hair, twirling her locks between her two fingers. "Why do you sound so shocked?"_

_"I can't imagine someone doing all of this for me is all..." The younger girl said as she looked to the floor._

_"You don't have to imagine," Sana said, looking at Dahyun with those honey brown eyes Dahyun often got lost in, "I thought you'd like it more than a normal dinner and cuddling."_

_Dahyun gave her a quick peck on her bright red cheeks,"should we walk to the first spot?" she asked and put their intertwined hands inside the pocket of her jacket._

_So they walked, hand in hand, enjoying each other's presence. The starry night gave them company through the park where they ran into a crew of people minding their own business, drinking away their night and enjoying it without any feel of consequences. "I kinda miss nights like these," Sana said._

_"Getting drunk with your friends?"_

_"That was okay, but more not having to worry about what I'm doing all the time,"she replied,  "Ever since I became an idol, I had to worry about my image, how I would appear to the public. So the nights like these, where I can be careless are rare."_

_"You don't have to worry tonight! Let's just enjoy the night and be careless together."_

_"I'd love that."_

_They countinued their path on the gravelled road throughout the park. The trees surrounding them gave them a sense of comfort, standing tall to protect them. They reached the small lake almost in the middle of the park. Usually, it would be full of ducks and children screaming. But now, it was quiet, peaceful. Just like the pair liked it. Honestly even if it was full of other people and children screaming, neither Dahyun nor Sana would really notice that, for they were so lost and concentrated on each other everything else just seemed to vanish._

_"So this lake is the first spot?" Dahyun asked and watched Sana nod her head off. The big smile on her face showed how excited she was to show this place to Dahyun._

_"Do you like it?"_

_"It's really cute!"_

_"But not as cute as you," Sana flirted with the younger one before Dahyun slightly pushed her._

_"You're getting cheesier every day," she said._

_"I used to be here every night I could before we debuted. Something about this place inspires me to do more than I believe I can," Sana said while letting go of Dahyun's hand to pick up the branch from the willow that was leaning over the lake. She dipped it in the water and smacked Dahyun with it. "Isn't it lovely," she teased._

_"Is that what we're doing now?" Dahyun answered back by picking up a branch of her own, but before she dripped it with water Sana stopped her._

_"Don't you have a gift to find?"_

_"I already found one," she hit Sana back, making it clear that she was the gift Dahyun was talking about. She attacked again, this time Sana prevented her hitting her face by putting a hand to stop the branch. The sound of crickets was replaced by genuine laughter from the girls, their hearts full of joy and their hands full with branches hitting each other._

_Sana caught the branch and pulled it to bring Dahyun closer to her while biting her lip. "You look cute tonight," she said and put the branch around Dahyun's neck, holding on both ends. She moved her lips closer to Dahyun and then the younger girl moved out of the way and let Sana kiss her cheek only._

_"I think I have a gift to find!" she said before winking and escaping the branch, "I don't know where to start looking though."_

_"I'll give you a hint for each time you kiss me," Sana pouted._

_Dahyun rolled her eyes, "I guess this will take some time then..." She wanted to kiss her but teasing her seemed so much more fun, especially considering Sana was the one that usually teased her. "If I were you, I'd put it somewhere higher so I couldn't reach it and I'd have to ask for your help," she said and started inspecting the trees, gently shaking some of the closest ones. "But I guess not?" There was nothing in the trees._

_"Just a kiss and you'll be closer," Sana suggested again and Dahyun smiled at her girl before turning down that suggestion._

_"Maybe you glued it on the signpost?" Dahyun walked across the gravelled road to reach it. She looked at it from all the sides imaginable and still nothing._

_She could hear Sana sigh from the short distance that still felt like they were too far apart, "You know, you'd already be done with it if you just kissed me." And Dahyun just ignored her pleas again._

_She looked around pondering where the gift might be hidden. She searched the trees, all the signs, the statue nearby. She was confused there seemed to be no other hiding spot available. She turned towards Sana and pouted at her. "Just one little hint."_  
_And Sana smirked at her, Dahyun knew what she had to do in order to get the hint. So she walked over to her and started leaning in. Just then she saw it. The bench on the other side of the lake, the one she hadn't searched yet. Sana must have hidden it there._

_She moved away from Sana's lips, leaving her fuming and bounced around. She pranced towards the spot with her head held high. "I have a good feeling about this," she said to Sana who walked behind her and the older girl blew her a kiss._

_The bench was hiding behind the tall strains of grass. The pair arrived there and Dahyun started looking for any kind of sign that whatever she was supposed to find was actually there. Her hands glazed the surface of the scrappy bench, slowly touching every part. But there was no sign. She sat on the bench with her arms crossed and pouted at Sana who later joined her on the bench. "You just sent me here looking for nothing, didn't you?"_  
_Sana put her head on the smaller girl's shoulder and started giggling. And even though Dahyun still didn't find her gift she was perfectly fine with only hearing that angelic sound. She didn't need any gift, having Sana by her side was enough._

_She put an arm around Sana's shoulder and gave her a quick peck on the lips, "You're lucky you're cute."_

_Sana smiled and shook her head."It's glued underneath the bench," she said and guided Dahyun's hand to the spot where her first gift was hidden. And as soon as her fingers touched the surface of it Dahyun felt the rush of excitement running through her. She laid eyes on the rectangled shaped gift wrapped with burgundy coloured paper._

_"Should I open it?" she asked and Sana motioned her to go ahead._

_She carefully removed the paper, trying not to rip it. After seeing the gift she let out a small giggle, the one that made Sana's cheeks scrunch from smiling. "This is adorable," Dahyun said as she took a closer look at a set of small toy wings._

_"Every angel needs its wings," Sana explained and shrugged, "Can I try putting them on for you?"_

_"I don't think they'd fit."_

_"You're tiny enough!" Sana teased, "Now, let me." And Dahyun didn't complain but let Sana put it on. "You actually look more like a fairy to be honest."_

_"I bet I look cute!" Dahyun said and started dancing her shoulders to show off her set of silver wings._

_Sana gave her cheek a smooch, "You always look cute."_

_"Thank you for giving me this," Dahyun grinned and pointed at her wings, "and thank you for bringing me here. I always liked being near the water. You know, my mother used to tell me the story of the dolphin carrying a boy on his back across the sea every day when I was child. I used too go to the river and waited for the dolphin. It sounds silly but I actually believed it for the longest of times."_

_"I can carry you across the lake. Let me be your dolphin," Sana said jokingly and Dahyun laughed at her._

_"Who's the goofy one now?" she said and watched Sana's smirking face change into a pout, "How many spots left?"_

_"Three."_

_"Then we better be going," she said and continued their path to the next spot._

_They walked almost all night, looking at the stars, holding hands, laughing. Just enjoying themselves. A lot. It all just felt so light, like all their worries were gone and in the moment it was just the two of them, two young hearts searching the world together. Or rather all the places in which Sana hid the gifts. Sana led the way to the next spot, a statue near the flower shop. Dahyun quickly found the gift since Sana cleverly hid it between the man's legs. She wondered how nobody took it before her._

_The night was almost over as they came closer to the last spot, Dahyun carrying the wings and the jug of sand Sana brought her from their tour, which she found at the second spot, and a black t shirt with "it was me. i let the dogs out" written on it. The last gift found underneath their favourite stand with fast food._

_Their steps started getting slower and slower, maybe from the tiredness and maybe some part of them didn't want the night to end. It started getting so late it wouldn't even count as late but as early._

_"We're here," Sana announced. Dahyun started looking at the place, her eyes looking for a spot where a gift might be hidden. And as she looked at the map Chaeyoung drew, she noticed this was not supposed to be where they stopped. She checked again and realized they were supposed to be next to the abandoned apartment building on the other side of the street. She gulped, thinking about how tall the building was._

_Sana noticed it and intertwined their fingers, gently squeezing her hand to comfort her. "I know you're scared of heights so we are only going to go underneath the whole thing. I took a picture of it though. To show you how it is," she said and showed er a picture of the top of the building. The walls were covered with graffiti and the over all vibe was not one that would suit Sana's image. But she liked doing things that contradict her personality every once in a while._

_"It doesn't even matter where we go right now to be honest," Sana said and Dahyun looked at her confused, "I didn't hide a gift for you here. The last gift I'm giving you here is myself. I don't want to picture my life without you in it. In any way possible. So here I am giving you a promise, a promise to never leave, to never give up on you. I promise you I want to spend the rest of my life with you in it."_

_Sana's hand wandered on Dahyun's face almost instinctively, drawing circles on her soft skin, feeling how her face moved up as she gave Sana the biggest smile, the one that was reserved for her and her only._  
_Her hand was rested on her cheek and Dahyun moved closer to kiss her on the cheek, but Sana stopped her and looked directly into her eyes while licking her lips. Dahyun thought, no Dahyun wasn't capable of thinking anything since her mind was too preoccupied with feelings about Sana. How the older was looking at her like she was now the brightest star in the sky. How she held her as if she was the most precious gift given. How she felt the exact same thing about the girl in front of her._

_"That's risky," she whispered loud enough that Sana who was moving closer to get a taste of her lips could still hear._

_"I'd risk anything for you," Sana said and connected their lips. They stood like that in the middle of the street for what felt like eternity, with their lips moving against each other. They continued walking around town, holding hands until the night turned into a day._

The road to their next event wasn't long anymore but it felt like it was. Mostly since she had to share the van with Sana. How it came to that, no one knows. Dahyun only knew she was holding onto the door handle, waiting for the car to stop for good so she can run out of the car and escape. It was exhausting being so near her, hearing her laugh and giggle with Jeongyeon. It was exhausting hating her everytime she did it or hating her even more when she glanced at Dahyun afterwards as if she was checking if the younger girl was aware of her presence. And oh god was she aware. 

Every stoplight they encountered, Dahyun's eyes would widen and then she'd get even more annoyed when she'd figure out it wasn't yet over. She kept mostly to herself. Sometimes she'd catch herself answering to one of Chaeyoung's questions about everything and nothing at all. 

And as they finally arrived and Dahyun was making a run out of the van before somebody pushed her back inside it. 

"We need to talk," Momo pointed at herself, Dahyun and Sana while everyone else left. She could swear she could see Chaeyoung encouraging Momo and would probably also hear her asking if she needed her, if only she weren't too busy trying to avoid Sana's eyes avoiding her like plague. 

The van emptied and left the three girls alone to talk. MOmo was the first one to start, as expected.

"This is not an intervention," she started, "it's not either a talk where I tell you two to stop hating each other. Frankly I would prefer if you two were friends, but at this point I don't even care anymore." 

"Then what is this about?" Sana asked first and Dahyun rolled her eyes.

"Maybe we'd actually know if you wouldn't cut her off and let her explain."

Momo shook her head, "I want to propose a thing. Since I love you both, I think it would be the best if I had some time reserved for each of you," she said and saw the other girls nod their heads, "without you talking badly about the other. Are you in?" 

Dahyun started thinking what to say, clearly she was okay about it. She can spend time not talking about Sana, not thinking about her. Honestly, that might be just what she needs. 

"I'm fine with everything, as long as I can leave now and be out of her life," Sana cut off Dahyun's train of thoughts.  

"But that's just the thing! You are both a part of my life and I would love for you both to stop pretending like it isn't so!" Momo practically shouted, "Otherwise I would have to stop being a friend to both of you. And that leads to nowhere." She tried telling this to the both of them multiple times and everytime it's like she was shouting to the deaf. 

Dahyun put a hand on her knee, "I know how important that is to you, Momo. So I'm in. I'll try. For you," she said that and could feel her eyes trying to glance at Sana. She had to remember every mean thing the older girl has said about her, every insult he had thrown her way to prevent herself from looking. 

 Sana scoffed at what Dahyun said, "I'm in too," after all she had no choice, she couldn't be worse than Dahyun, could she?

Momo smiled at them while showing her gratitude, "Dahyun you can leave no, but I still need to talk to Sana," she said. And Dahyun obeyed her wishes and finally ran out of the van, leaving the two girls behind. She made sure to slam the door, knowing it would scare Sana. Which it did.

"What do you want to talk about?" Sana asked. There was some sort of awkwardness between them but that was something usual now.

Momo switched her seat and sat next to her friend. "I know we're not as close as we used to be. But I need to know if you think we can get back there someday. Tell me, is this something worth trying for or should I just give up?" Momo looked at her with  glimpse of hope in her eyes. She was trying to meet her eyes and Sana didn't try to avert her gaze from her friend.

"It's you and me. It's always been like that.We have our ups and downs and we might be on a rough patch right now, but I know we'll get back there sooner than later," she reassured one of her dearest friends. She could swear Momo was about to cry.

"Okay," Momo said instead of crying, "Then let's try our best to do so." Hearing that, Sana brought the older girl into her arms and Momo felt nostalgic about it, ow he used to hug her all the time when they were trainees. And now that they are both idols and they can't see each other as much? It's different and Momo knows they both have to adjust to that. 

"Just know that I'm always here for you if you need someone to hug. Or someone to talk to, about anything," she whispered into Sana's ear and now Momo was certain she could feel the blonde girl's tears falling down her cheeks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really liked writing this. It shows a bit of what was going on with them before they got to where they are now. Thank you all for the kind comments. It makes me happy to see you enjoying this story so I hope you enjoyed this one as well:)  
> i don't really know why my most common time to update this is 3 am but we've come to this i guess  
> How did you feel about their past date?  
> until next time, rei


	7. Drawing the Line: fall

Few days passed and the girls were almost done with their promotions. The small nudges from the nine people crammed inside a tiny radio studio made Dahyun sweat on the edge of her seat, Sana’s eyes glaring at the side of her head made her mind wander around. She found it hard to concentrate on whatever the host was talking about since her thoughts were all over the place. The small glimpses of her members made her wonder if she were complacent to take care of them. _Do they feel alright?_ _Would they be better off without me? Am I only causing them pain?_

The sudden silence woke her up from her daydreaming. “Dahyun? Your favourite moments from the tour?” the host asks.

Dahyun shook her head just like she shook off the insecurities bottling inside her. “Getting to know the girls better mostly, but if I had to point out a specific moment it would have to be yesterday’s concert,” she takes a deep breath before continuing, “just the feeling of being on the same stage as one of the biggest groups was pretty special. Bringing a smile on the faces of so many fans, I am so honoured to be able to do it.” The words of the young leader resonated well with the other girls. The eight of them trying to find a comfortable way for all of them to fit, Jihyo answered, “I am very grateful we got to do this thing together. Just the growth of these young three ladies was impressive. I hope the fans loved you as much as we did and we stay together for a long time,” the last bunch of words aimed at the rookie trio. The leaders exchanged smiles after they exchanged the kind words.

“Since F.A.I.R.Y.’s upcoming comeback has been confirmed, are there any plans for Twice as well?”

This time Jeongyeon was the first one to get to the mic, “There are plans but nothing official yet. We’ve heard some songs and we plan to record them after we finish this. And after that we’ve got a dome tour scheduled and then it’s the world tour so it might be a while. And honestly, I think we could live with some more rest in between so it’s nothing to complain about.” The exasperated look on her face said it all. The girls were tired. Overworked. They needed a break, yet the thought of leaving it for too long scared them. Performing was all they wanted and if it had to be like that, then they’d take it ten out of ten times. Still, they needed to rest. Badly.

“Then I can’t wait to hear what you got for us!” The host said and laughed, leaving the atmosphere in the room as it was, “Sadly, not all nine of you got to be here to listen to the letters the fans sent you.”

“Yes, Nayeon has other obligations she has to attend right now, but I’m sure she will check out the interview later so why don’t we get started with the letters,” Jihyo suggested to the host.

Dahyun felt grateful for the two Koreans, for how they carried the conversation so naturally, how effortlessly they all made it seem. She adjusted herself on the seat and made sure to carefully listen to the fans.

“Here goes the first letter, from someone named Jiwon,” the host said and started reading the letter, “ _I’ve never attended a concert before in my life because it’s hard for me to stand for a long period of time. In the past, I’ve been afraid people would make fun of me or I would miss out on too much because I wouldn’t be able to focus on what was happening. Being at your latest show was an experience of a lifetime. Everyone treated me nicely and I’ve made some really great friends there. And the way the both groups took care of the fans and made sure everyone felt comfortable made me feel special. I’m grateful for everything and I’m so happy you made me feel like a part of the family.  
ps. Thank you for the coffee.”_

Tears were on the faces of almost everyone in the room, the cold shiver’s running through Dahyun’s body making her feel at ease.

“That was very nice, wasn’t it?” The host asked once again and the girl nodded in agreement. “What was that part about the coffee about though?”

Momo grabbed the mic almost the same time as Tzuyu and they exchanged looks to agree on who was going to speak up. “Dahyun usually brings coffee for the earliest fans standing in line,” Momo explained.

“A generous person!” The host commented.

“She really is,” Jihyo responded and nodded at Dahyun, “she also always brings us snacks when we have to wait for shows.” The Twice members looked at each other in disbelief after hearing that statement. Some whispers were heard around the room.

“I thought that was Jihyo!” Jeongyeon blurts out, looking as shocked as ever and her friend only let out a small ‘nope’.

“That was you?” Sana couldn’t hide her shock as well.

“Yeah, you’re going to spit it out now?” Dahyun asked with the biggest smile present on her face.

“I just might,” Sana said back and giggled, both girl trying to hide the truth that was in those statements with their laughter and cuteness. And the fans just maybe fell for it. The host laughs with them, or maybe at them, that wasn’t quite sure. What was sure was the way Sana looked at her, made Dahyun revisit all of their past moments again, remembering how it all crashed right before their eyes and how none of them were willing to pick up the pieces yet again.

“We’ll read the next letter after a special performance from Dahyun,” the host announced before the young Korean stepped inside the recording booth, holding tight to the headphones on the top of her head.

“This song is from the upcoming album. Just a little something to get you excited for it. Hopefully. It holds a dear meaning to me, about all the times we failed and all the times we failed each other. How it made me blame myself and how I wished things weren’t as they were. This is Guilty.”

She put the headphones firmly on and licked her lips, just as she usually did if she were nervous.

The guitar intro starts and Dahyun changes the expression in her face instantly, as if it came natural for her. She looked at the microphone and took a deep breath. Something inside her screamed in hopes to get out of her. She lifted her gaze and started singing.

“ _I guess it’s just another night_ __  
_Another fight_ _  
__That all familiar scene...”_

The song was slow, yet powerful. Her airy vocals made it that much more special. During the course of the song she couldn’t help herself but to look at Sana. Her warm brown eyes trying hard to escape that look. All the young girl got was a cold shoulder and a pissed off Sana. Yet she continued with the song, trying hard to suppress the tears coming out. She felt connected to the song, they were one.

“ _I put my hands up_

_I put my hands up,_

_I guess I’m guilty…_

”

The chorus hit and the tears started running out on the first beat, making it a spectacular one of a kind performance. Momo and Tzuyu watched in awe, as did Jeongyeon and Mina. Jihyo’s proud face and clapping gave Dahyun enough power to finish the whole song up without looking at Sana who now tried to fake her excitement about the song.

“ _When did we become these strangers?_

_I don’t even recognize us._

_There’s nothing there to justify you.”_

Everybody clapped as she got out of the booth with tear-stained face. Some clapped less enthusiastically than others but that was what Dahyun expected. The host seemed completely dumbfounded. “That was quite something!” he congratulated her, “This was your original work if I remember that correctly, right?”

“Yes,” Dahyun nodded, “it’s going to be featured on the album so I hope the fans liked it!”

“I sure did,” smiles and clapping erupted in the room, “How long did it take you to write it?” he asked once again.

“I started writing it two years ago and I just kept revisiting it every once in a while to try and make it perfect.”

Momo and Tzuyu patted her on the back as she sat between them and Sana’s eyes still grilled the side of her head.

 

After reading the rest of the letters the girls started leaving the studio. Dahyun went to one of the vans waiting to pick them up. She opened the door and Sana was there, pretending to sleep so she could avoid talking to anybody, especially Dahyun. The younger girl sat next to her. She knew it would bother Sana and maybe she just wanted her to be bothered, maybe she just wanted Sana to feel how she felt every time the older girl teased her, every time she was mean to her. She looked at the girl and her shoulders looked as soft as she remembered them to be. Dahyun contemplated resting her head on her shoulder. Maybe not only because it would annoy Sana, maybe because she knows how comforting that used to be to here, how welcomed she felt there.

“So you’re not going away now?” Sana asked, her eyes still shut and her hat covered her face, “Got it. You only leave when I don’t want you to.” Dahyun just rolled her eyes. She put her head on Sana’s shoulder. It still felt comforting, but welcoming- that was very debatable. Sana tried to shake her off, but Dahyun struggled and tried her best to hold on. And Sana stopped fighting her and let her rest her head. She figured Dahyun would quickly get tired of it anyway.

“You know,” Dahyun whispered into her ear, “you’re not _that_ awful when you are quiet.” Now Sana pushed her off of her with her other arm and Dahyun just laughed at her. “What? You though only you know how to play this game? That I don’t know how to be mean? Look around,” she said and moved her arm across the inside of the van, “there are no cameras here, I don’t have to act nice.” Sana didn’t answer, she just scoffed. There was no awkward silence between them since it was all they both wanted. The other to shut up. Dahyun started playing with her phone and when Sana noticed that she followed her path. They sat like that for a few minutes, every so often Dahyun froze as she caught Sana glancing at her screen and Sana just went back to focus on reading the comments from the fans. Dahyun couldn’t help but to feel jealous over all the love Sana always got from the fans. Sana’s phone rang.

“Aren’t you going to get that?” Dahyun asked and Sana ignored her, “Why aren’t you answering your girlfriend?” she went further as she watched Sana decline a call from a contact saved only as the heart emojis. She put her phone away and pretended to sleep again.

“Do you insult her too? Is that like your kink?”

“Why do you even care who I insult? Or if I insult you?” Sana stopped pretending.

“I don’t. Only when it’s ruining my career.”

“Isn’t that my specialty?” the older girl asked and looked into Dahyun’s eyes, “ruining your career?”

“You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No I don’t know. And nobody else did either. Because you never talk to anyone, you just do things you think are better for everyone at your expense. You deserved to be happy too and you threw everything away.”

“That’s not true!”

“You’re not the same Dahyun I fell in love with. You used to make everyone feel important and happy. Including yourself. You used to make me happy and now all you do is hurt me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why do you still talk to me if you say you hate me?”

“Do you want me to ignore you?”

“Yes. Ignore me and let me move on with my life.”

Silence. Awkward silence. The kind neither wanted. Dahyun wondered if maybe she shouldn’t have said anything. But now it was to late to keep it inside any longer. As soon as she started talking everything poured out and there was no stopping it now.

“I wrote that song about you, Sana,” she said, “you’ve changed just as much as I have. You would have never be mean to anyone, hell I used to think you were the nicest person I’ve ever met and now all I see in you is how nasty and rotten you’ve become.”

“I don’t get you at all.”

“I wrote it because I still feel guilty for doing this to you. For breaking your heart.”

“I thought you said I had no heart.”

“You clearly don’t anymore.”

Sana rolled her eyes and closed them shut. She oushed her head further into the head rest on her seat.

“You’re right,” Dahyun said again, “we should just ignore each other, we work better like that any way.”

The van door opened.

“Are we interrupting something?” Jihyo asked as she Mina and Chaeyoung tried entering the van.

“Yes,” Sana started explaining, “now please come in so this conversation can be done with. I don’t feel like talking anymore.”

They got in and soon after the van started moving. This was going to be one hell of a ride.

 

_One would say it was a normal wednesday afternoon. People were chippering as always, children screaming out of enjoyment, friends joking with each other. And Sana was waiting for Dahyun. Again. Twice finally got some time off before their tour started. While the other girls visited their family or went on big expensive trips, Sana stayed in Korea, even though she missed Japan badly. Even though she missed her family like crazy, one particular person was the sole reason Sana didn’t want to leave. Dahyun. She needed to stay just because she still had Dahyun there. The thought of not spending her time with here never even crossed her mind._

_So there she was, inside the JYPE building, waiting for her girlfriend who was just about to finish her meeting with the executives. She had a small box of chocopies, Dahyun’s favourite, with her. She knew how much Dahyun loved them and she knew how much she loved Dahyun. She nodded her head to greet a cleaning lady who just came out of the big practice room she spent so much time already._

_Sana’s smile spread wide when she saw her love finally walking out of the meeting and it stayed as wide as she saw she walked out hand in hand with another trainee. As Dahyun saw her she walked over and hugged her. She bounced up and down all excitedly and the smile on her face was not fading away any soon._

“ _Guess what,” she said to her girlfriend who slightly raised her head in return, “they are planning to debut us as a group! Momo, Tzuyu, Somi and I. We’re going to make it!” Hearing those words, Sana couldn’t be more proud of Dahyun. She was there for her during all those times she tried to make everything she did perfect. She knew how much that meant to her._

“ _That calls for celebration!” she stated._

“ _And they said I was supposed to be the leader!”_

_Sana couldn’t shake the proud smile off her face even if she wanted to. “That’s great news! Congrats to both of you ladies!” she said to both Dahyun and Somi, who nodded her head at Sana with a proud smile of her own. “Should we get going?” she asked her love._

_Dahyun backed away from the hug. “We kinda have to go to more meetings right away,” a hint of regret noticeable in her voice._

“ _But we had this thing planned,” Sana said with a pout on her face._

“ _I’m really sorry.”_

_Sana rested her hand on Dahyun’s shoulder and then went to fix her love’s hair, “It’s okay, I get it! We’ll just reschedule.” Dahyun was grateful for how understanding Sana was, yet she hated it since the reason she was so understanding was that she also had to cancel sometimes because of her own hectic schedule._

“ _Thank you!” Dahyun said and hugged Sana again. The older girl turned towards Somi and gave her a big hug as well before she congratulated the both of them again and left, forgetting to give a box of chocopies to Dahyun._

_The next thing Sana knew , the next night, she was already buying a plane ticket to Japan while looking at the photos of the soon-to-debut group out celebrating that Momo posted. The generic excuse of her girlfriend canceling their plans again echoing in her head._

“ _I’m sorry Sana, but we have to practice our formation so they can debut as soon as possible.”_

 

The last day of their tour. There it was. All of the girls relaxed in their own rooms, most of them were taking an afternoon nap. Dahyun was laying in Momo’s nap while the older girl ran her hand through her hair while Tzuyu was already dead asleep, as usual.

“So, what do you think about the party?” Momo asked and waited for Dahyun to answer. But she got no response. “Dahyun,” she tried again, “the party?”

Dahyun shook her head, trying to remember what Momo was saying since she heard it vaguely but paid zero attention to what was actually being said. “I’m sorry, but what?”

“The party Jihyo suggested we have, to commemorate the end?” Momo explained. And Dahyun remembered.

“Oh yeah. Well I see it as a good excuse to get black out drunk,” Dahyun said with her eyes shut. She sighed as the wind from the window Tzuyu left open again moved her hair around.

“That’s our responsible leader,” Momo said while rolling her eyes, which got a light chuckle out of Dahyun. “What’s bothering you?” Momo asked and before Dahyun could answer with her really honest ‘nothing’, Momo continued talking, “Is it Sana again?”

Dahyun took a breath, thinking for a bit if she should talk to Momo about it since she knew the subject to be sensitive for both of them. “You can talk to me about it, that won’t violate our rules, you know,” she said and made Dahyun laugh again.

“Is it ever not her?” Dahyun wondered.

“I’m really glad you agreed to be okay with it, but if it’s hurting you… just tell me. I am here for you too, it doesn’t always have to be you that has our back.”

“I just wish it wouldn’t hurt that much. Every time I see her I’m reminded of all the mistakes I’ve made. All the people I’ve done wrong.”

“It’s gonna be fine,” Momo said and kissed her forehead, “I just don’t understand. You two used to be such great friends and then that accident happened and it’s like you two are mortal enemies.”

“Yeah, something like that,” Dahyun chuckled, “Are you looking forward to the party,” she said, trying to change the subject.

“I’m always ready to party and dance my ass off!”

The leader shook her head. “Just take it easy. We still need be in top shape all the time.”

“Says the girl who plans to get black out drunk…”

“Like I have any other choice! Tzuyu already said Nayeon was teaching her pole dancing and you will most likely run off with Chaeyoung,” Dahyun tried teasing the older girl.

“So what if I do?”

“You like her don’t you?” Dahyun asked. Momo smiled shyly before biting her lower lip.  
“She makes me happy,” she let out.

“Are you going to make a move?”

“Who says I haven’t already?” Momo said with a smirk and Dahyun laughed it off. She smiled to herself, thinking how happy she was for two of her bestfriends and how envious she was of their bravery, for she wasn’t as brave in the past. And she sure as hell wasn’t brave enough to fall in love now. Not when it could destroy what she had been working her whole life for. And her with it.

 

_Sana was laying in her bed with her hands wrapped tightly around Dahyun while the younger was going through her messages, trying to reply to the most important ones. A pair of lips smothered her neck with kisses. She loved the way she fit in Sana’s arms._

“ _What are you up to?” Sana asked her._

_Dahyun closed her phone. “Just looking through some stuff the manager sent us.”_

“ _Again?” Sana sighed and turned away from Dahyun._

“ _I’m sorry.”_

“ _Ever since that meeting you’ve been paying less and less attention to me,” Sana whined._

_Dahyun gulped, her hand moving a strain of hair away from Sana’s face after she turned to face the girl. “This won’t take long, I promise.”_

“ _Yeah you always do,” she said as she kept her gaze on anything but Dahyun._

“ _It’s important,”_

“ _Am I not important as well?” Sana asked as she turned to meet Dahyun’s eyes._

_Dahyun smiled at her as if she really was the most important thing in her world, “You are. And I should make more time for you.”_

_It had only been about 6 months since the pair started dating and between Sana’s tours and Dahyun working herself to death, they haven’t spent that much time together. Occasional date here and there, sometimes Sana would come hang out with their group if she had the time, but their relationship mostly consisted of long phone calls and texts._

“ _I just wish that the limited time we have together would only be ours. A time where we forget about anything else for a while,” the older girl said._

“ _I know,” Dahyun sighed, “I’ll put the phone away now.” Sana was pleased to hear that so she wrapped her arms around Dahyun again. Their bare skin touching felt normal by now._

“ _I’m glad I have you,” Sana said, “but no matter what I always catch myself wanting more of you,” she whispered in her ear._

_Dahyun frowned and let out a sigh, “I can’t give you more.” She actually could but that would mean jeopardizing everything both of them had worked so hard for._

“ _I know, I know. And you don’t have to.” After everything Sana has sacrificed for her, spending time with her family, resting, tons of vlives the other members begged her to do with them, ignoring almost anyone else in her life in order to spend more time with Dahyun, Sana just wished she could be met with a similar interest. Maybe then she wouldn’t have to let go of everything else just so she didn’t have to let go of Dahyun. Yet she never thought about not doing everything it took to be with Dahyun, to fight however hard to keep her in her life. Still those words were left unsaid as she knew pushing Dahyun on this would simply mean pushing her away._

“ _I could cut back on some practices and workouts so I can spend more time with you.”_

_Sana shook her head. “You don’t have to do that!”_

“ _But I would. For you,” Dahyun said before pressing her lips against Sana’s cheek, “Also, Momo’s been nagging me about relaxing more and you make me relaxed. Win-win if you ask me,” she said and shrugged, making Sana laugh with her her eyes squinting._

“ _Would you really?”_

“ _Yeah. I’ve been practicing really hard lately and I feel guilty about ignoring you.” Dahyun smiled. Her right thumb was tracing circles on Sana’s hand intertwined on Dahyun’s stomach._

_Sana huffed. “Don’t do things just because you feel guilty.”_

“ _I’m not,” Dahyun reassured her, “I’m doing this because I’m really into you.”_

_The older girl bit her lip and looked at Dahyun, trying to say what’s been on her mind. How she was absolutely, without a doubt, in love with her. How she loved the way she moved her head to the left every time she was confused, that every time she saw her smile Sana’s life just made sense. She pressed their foreheads together and smiled wildly, but those words remained unsaid._

“ _I’m really into you too, Kim Dahyun.”_

 

“Who’s got the drinks?” Jihyo asked around the room. After renting out an entire club just for their group of 9 she remembered to assign each member with a task of their own. Nayeon was originally supposed to take care of music, but nobody was in a mood for an endless playlist of IU’s hits so Mina took that part. Jihyo joined Sana and Chaeyoung in decorating the place while Jeongyeon, Nayeon and Tzuyu had to prepare the food. Nayeon thought that was an easy part since Jeongyeon could ask her dad but they disagreed on everything and in the end Tzuyu got tired of their constant bickering and got snacks she wanted. Which left Momo and Dahyun with drinks. The younger leader lifted a bag full of bottles in the air to show Jihyo they already finished their task.

“Great,” Jihyo said, “you can help us with decorations then!”

Dahyun joined Chaeyoung and the duo tried hanging a banner congratulating them on the end of the tour. Chaeyoung tried jumping to reach the top of where it was supposed to go and Dahyun just laughed at her. “Wait let me lift you up,” she offered her help. And the younger girl sat on Dahyun’s shoulder. She extended herself as far as possible but she was still a couple of centimeters too short. While she was grabbing the wall trying to reach it, Dahyun started swaying and Chaeyoung almost fell down face first if the pair hadn’t just crashed into a wall to prevent them from falling.

“Chaeyoung you’ve got this. Just a few more years of growing and you’ll get there!” Jihyo said in between laughing. Which made both Sana and Momo cackle as the duo almost dropped all the ribbons they were carrying when they started laughing.

Chaeyoung rolled her eyes, “Some help would be appreciated.” And on that note, Momo stopped laughing and ran towards Chaeyoung instantly, picking her up from Dahyun and putting her on her own shoulders.

“I think we can reach it now,” she said and Chaeyoung indeed was finally able to hang the banner.

All the girls managed to take care of their respective task, even Mina was successful in connecting all the speakers to her computer correctly, of course with some help from Tzuyu who just couldn’t wait to escape from the two bickering idiots, as she would call them. Thus, the party finally started.

As if they were 11 year old teenagers they had to start the night with a traditional game of truth or dare and drink, where after either picking truth or dare they drank and if they picked netiher, they drank. Simple, right?.

Dahyun sat in between Jeongyeon and Momo. It started off pretty slow, Jihyo asked Chaeyoung if she liked anyone and obviously the girl answered yes, but the way Momo blushed at her answer, now that was something else. Then it was Dahyun’s turn to ask and Nayeon also picked truth.

“Why were you absent today?” she asked.

Nayeon started talking after Jeongyeon smiled at her reassuringly. “I had some acting jobs since the company wants me to pursue that kind of role in the future.”

Sana’s mouth opened wide as her eyes almost jumped out of her skull, “Why was I not aware of that at all?” And Mina nodded her head to what she was saying, both of them looking at Nayeon.

“It was something recent that they just decided. I didn’t want to worry any of you with it,” the eldest excused herself.

“And you were aware of it?” Chaeyoung directed her wondering to Jihyo who shot her hands up in defense.

“Jeongyeon knew too!” And so the bunch bickered around those facts and many more things, one amongst them being what milk flavour is the best. Chaeyoung was obvious again and picked strawberry and Tzuyu shocked everyone when she picked plain unflavoured milk.

“That’s just disgusting!” Nayeon insisted, “Your taste is horrible!”

Tzuyu shrugged. “Maybe you could try it so your bones don’t break so easily grandma.”

“That was weak,” Nayeon said while she was trying to pretend to look offended.

Dahyun agreed with her, “Yeah you’ve done better before.”

“Well I can’t be perfect all the time!” Tzuyu joked around.

“Yes, that’s my job!” Nayeon said and Jeongyeon reached all over the circle to smack her.

After that Jihyo dared Jeongyeon to run around with her shirt above her head, covering her face. And Jeongyeon gladly took it, just as gladly drank the shot of vodka Dahyun prepared for her. As she ran she hit every single thing in her way, for sure her legs would have been coloured blue the next day. Sana peeped through her fingers and cringed every time she heard a thumping noise.

“Thank god that wasn’t for me! I would have died!” she said clinging onto Mina.

“Sana, truth or dare?” Jeongyeon asked her.

“Dare! Absolutely! Let’s do something fun!” she flailed her arms towards her shot.

Jeongyeon looked around the room and fixated her gaze somewhere in the distance while her smirk was getting bigger and bigger. “Say something nice to Dahyun.”

Dahyun intervened almost immediately, “We’ve actually agreed to ignore each other so that won’t be possible.”

“Oh come on, Dahyun! You used to be much more relaxed. It won’t hurt to have some fun,” Sana looked at her and smiled while almost spilling her drink.

“You’ve apparently had too much to drink already,” Mina said as she took the glass out of her hand and put it on the floor.

“Yes, I have! Now let’s do this,” she said. Dahyun just rolled her eyes and stared into absolutely nothing, pretending to not be interested in what she had to say. “Kim Dahyun,” Sana started, “sometimes your goofiness is actually endearing.”

“Wow you must be really drunk!” Chaeyoung laughed at her. Dahyun was still looking away, being at a loss of word didn’t help her to keep her mouth closed.

Then Momo wanted to see some pole dancing so she dared Nayeon to do it. Which resulted in her asking Tzuyu to join her since the pair decided to learn it together beforehand. That left Jeongyeon and Mina playing bartenders for Jihyo. As expected, Chaeyoung took Momo away as soon as the older girl showed a little bit of disinterest in the pole dancing and when Dahyun noticed the mess that was about to become she decided getting black out drunk wasn’t an option anymore. After all someone had to take care of everybody. Just like she had always done. Everybody else above her.

She went to the bathroom to freshen up, to get away from the loud fast paced music Mina picked. She suddenly bumped into something or rather someone. A very drunk Sana. The though of going to the bathroom long passed as she saw the helpless girl sitting on the floor.

“You’re so gorgeous,” Sana was able to mutter.

“Let’s get you some air,” Dahyun said and almost dragged her outside. The wind was blowing in their face and Sana’s hair still stayed in front of her face.

“You look like a mess,” she commented on Sana’s appearance.

“I’m your mess now,” Sana said and laid her head on Dahyun. She blinked a couple of times while Dahyun just stayed silent, again, “oh wait, I’m not.” She moved her head away.

Dahyun shook her head. For a long time she wished to have some sort of reconciliation with Sana, but after Sana started being hateful towards her, making mean comments all the time, she just wanted her Sana back, even if she hated her. “Just don’t speak. Drink this,” she told her while giving her a bottle of water.

Sana held onto the bottle tight, with both hands. Then she looked at Dahyun. At how the light lit up her blue hair, making it look like a starry night. “Why do you have to be so pretty? And funny? And kind?” she asked. “I don’t deserve this. Just leave me behind. It’s not like you haven’t done it before.”

“Can you walk on your own?” Dahyun asked her back.

“Can I when I’m sober?” Sana asked and put her face in her hands. Dahyun laughed, she genuinely laughed at something Sana said and before she knew it she smacked her as if they were life long friends.

“We’ll just sit here then. We don’t have to talk or anything.”

“You don’t want to be here, around me. You’ve made that pretty clear,” Sana told her, looking at her with her eyes shut. And Dahyun cackled at her drunken manners.

Dahyun shook her head before answering her. “I don’t want to be inside there either. I don’t know what I want, Sana.”

“I know only that I don’t know anything.”

Dahyun gave her a side eye and wondered if she too acted like that when drunk. She couldn’t possibly.

“I read it in a fortune cookie a fan gave me. It sounded so goofy and it reminded me of you,” Sana said and laid her head back onto Dahyun’s shoulder. The younger girl removed the hair the wind blew in front of Sana’s eyes. The light on the street flickered when Dahyun tried to come up with words to respond to that.

“Your shoulders are pretty and so soft,” Sana mumbled into Dahyun’s arm.

“Do you feel any better?” Dahyun asked her and Sana rubbed her face over her arm trying to nod. “Okay we’ll just stay here for a little while more. Why did you have to get so drunk?”

“It hurts too much to be near you. To be so close and not be able to hug you, to kiss you, to have you,” she said, still drooling over Dahyun’s shoulder.

“Stop saying stuff like that Sana!” Dahyun got angry at her.

“Why? It’s true.”

The younger girl took a deep breath. “We agreed to ignore each other.”

“But I don’t want that! I just want to kiss you. Let me kiss you, please.”

“I think it’s time to go inside now,” Dahyun said and helped Sana get up and take her back in. She didn’t know what to think about everything she heard from Sana, she just knew ignoring her was not an option anymore.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> could you imagine me updating this at a different time than 4am? Yeah me neither.  
> This one deals with some glimpses of the downfall of their relationship with some other things happening. I also really just wanted to write about someone drunk lmao. Please let me know how you feel about it, I hope you enjoyed it.  
> until next time, rei


	8. Intersection pt.1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one needs a slight trigger warning i think...

“ _Can you please just spend a day with me! It’s always just ‘the group this’ or ‘the group that’! Just one day. I haven’t seen you in so long. Why can’t you want me as much as you want this?”_

“ _That has always been my dream!”_

“ _So I don’t matter as much?”_

“ _You do?”_

“ _So prove it to me!”_

“ _Be ready at six. I’m taking you out.”_

 

It was a normal day, Twice was finally able to get a few minutes of rest after a long time and F.A.I.R.Y., as usual, was working hard. The girls were just about to end their dance practice for a cover they were about to release for their fans and everything went almost perfect. Momo tweaked the choreography so it showed more of their talents and individuality and Tzuyu and Dahyun were happy to learn what the talented dancer managed to come up with. “So it’s 1, 2, 3 and then turn or is it 1,2 and turn on 3?” Dahyun asked.

“You do it on 3 and Tzuyu on 4,” Momo answered as she was helping Tzuyu make the move look smoother. They almost perfected it already but some parts still looked off so there was no surprise they were still working after they were supposed to stop. Perfection is the only thing good enough for their fans after all.

“Are you sure we can pull this off?” Tzuyu asked.

“Absolutely,” the two other girls answered in unision.

“Are you going to be okay with this? I know you always say to not worry but with your knee and everything, I just can’t help but worry,” Dahyun said to Momo who just shook her head and laughed it off.

“If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t risk my well being for this. I’m not you.” And Tzuyu laughed while Dahyun stood there looking confused. Her eyes were squinted and she contemplated answering it in a hostile tone, but she knew the oldest meant no harm.

“I don’t do that!” she answered.

“But you would if you had the chance, wouldn’t you?” Tzuyu said.

Dahyun shrugged, “Yeah probably.” Dahyun valued the group really highly. Tzuyu and Momo were family to her and their managers worked really hard for them so there were no surprises whenever Dahyun said she would be willing to die and kill for them. She probably even meant it all.

After a while, they were finally able to finish the choreo good enough for them to be satisfied with it so they called it a day. Dahyun went to freshen up and picked up her phone. She saw she had around 8 messages, all of them from Nayeon, but she didn’t bother reading them, instead she just called the older girl. The phone rang for about 3 seconds before Nayeon picked up the call.

“Can you not read Dahyun?” she asked, “I told you not to call in case managers were around, but you are lucky this time!”

“You send too many messages Nayeon! What did you want?”

“I asked if you wanted to go for a run with me?” Dahyun was confused. She didn’t realize she actually made a good friend in Nayeon while they were on tour but she always admired the girl for her hard work and good heart.

“Aren’t you on a break though?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I was thinking we could run and finish our game of 10 questions. What do you think?” Dahyun didn’t answer. She contemplated. Should she go workout again after she had just finished practice or should she get some rest. But she really wanted to see Nayeon again.

“Fine, but it gotta be short.”

 

“ _I’m going for a run. Want to come with me?”_

“ _I can’t today, Momo. I have plans.”_

“ _That’s fine. Stay safe.”_

“ _Yeah, you too.”_

_Dahyun hurried out of the dorms to prove her love to Sana._

 

She met Nayeon at the park, neither of them wearing make up and both wearing casual, comfortable clothes. “Aren’t we going to be recognized if we run around here?” Dahyun asked.

“I found a route where no one goes a long time ago so we’re good,” Nayeon said and started walking towards that route while Dahyun nodded and followed her.

They ran uphill for a bit and Dahyun’s panting could be heard throughout Seoul so Nayeon stopped for a second “Are you good?”

“I’m just tired from practice.”

Nayeon raised her eyebrows, “Why didn’t you tell me you had practice, we would have gone slower,” her hands went up in the air before she found a bench to sit on. She motioned Dahyun to sit next to her. “Why did you agree to this if you were tired?” she asked,

“Is that a question, miss Im?”

“Yes, now answer.” Nayeon told her.

“What is this? Number 5?” Dahyun said while counting the previous questions on her fingers.

Nayeon laughed at the younger girls antics, “I believe so!”

“Okay then!” Dahyun smiled, “I don’t know. I don’t even feel like running. I guess I’d rather spend my time like this than resting.”

“Resting is important!” Nayeon laid both her hands on Dahyun’s head as if she was trying to put that mantra inside of her which made both girls laugh out loud.

It was Dahyun’s turn to ask a question. “Why did you call me? I’m sure you have many other friends that are actually able to run right now!”

Nayeon rolled her eyes while nodding her head, “You are the only one that actually lets me run or work or anything else that isn’t resting. Everybody just babies me to make sure I am okay and it is making me go insane. I get that they are doing it for me but I wish they didn’t.” Dahyun was confused and unsure of their relationship so she figured it would be best to not push her. Especially when she saw Nayeon shake her head, trying to come up with a good question.

“We did colours already, first kiss too, now what? Oh I know!” she shouted while pointing to the sky, “Texture of the food or flavour?”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Dahyun laughed.

“It doesn’t! Just answer and we’ll continue running.”

Dahyun thought about it, imagining she was eating the food and making faces as she was doing so and Nayeon chuckled at that, “Texture! Could you imagine drinking pizza?”

“You would rather eat something that tastes bad?”

“Well if the texture isn’t right the taste usually isn’t good as well,” Dahyun shrugged and Nayeon shook her head before she stood up from the bench and the girls continued with their run. Nayeon ran first, knowing that if she let Dahyun first she wouldn’t slow down the tempo. When they got to the top of the hill they rested for a few seconds, just enjoying the view of the lake and children playing nearby it. As they were able to catch their breath Nayeon suggested they run to the lake and finish the game.

“This lake looks amazing!” Nayeon exclaimed. Dahyun sat on the bench, boserving the surroundings, trying to take everything in. She listened to the birds chirping and children screaming in excitement before Nayeon sat besides her.

“How did you find this place?” she asked quietly.

The older girl sat back, with both her hands on top of the bench. “Sana showed it to me,” she said as she watched Dahyun’s eyes drop and heard a small ‘oh’ escaping her mouth. “She had a really bad day and I wanted to cheer her up so she told me to take her here, but we ended up cuddled right here, while she was crying the whole time for about 4 hours.” Dahyun felt her heart frop. Her eyes filled up with tears she was holding back. One deep breath and she closed her eyes, trying to relax herself. And it worked, the tears disappeared from her eyes, but she knew they would reappear as soon as _she_ was mentioned again. So she didn’t speak. And neither did Nayeon. They listened to the birds and watched the water in the lake move around due to wind.

“Have you seen something so peaceful yet so chaotic?” Nayeon turned around to face Dahyun who nodded.

“I’ve been here before,” she said, “with Sana. A long time ago, though.” And Nayeon smiled at her, with the wind blowing their hair everywhere looking at her was just simply not possible.

“I’ve always wondered,” Nayeon started, “with the way she used to talk about you, it was different than when she was talking about Momo or someone from home, were you two always just friends?”

“I- I don’t know how to answer this,” Dahyun spoke her truth. They were official but never said anything to anyone. Would she be breaking Sana’s trust by saying anything. Would Sana even care?

“Well you have to answer something, it’s a part of the game,” Nayeon shrugged.

“Oh so you are using the game against me, now?” Dahyun said while rolling her eyes and giggling.

“Answer unless you like losing!” Nayeon teased her turning Dahyun’s giggle into a full blown laughter. “You know I am not one to lose!” And Nayeon smirked at her.

“We were together, yes, for like-”

“I knew it!” Nayeon cut her off with shouting and pumping up her fist, “I’m sorry. Jihyo, Jeongyeon and I bet on Sana having a girlfriend back in the day and when she introduced us the current one Jihyo was convinced she was the one Sana used to date but I knew it!”

Dahyun opened her eyes really wide, a wave of shock coming over her entire body, “You knew we were dating?”

Nayeon chuckled. “I knew it wasn’t her. You two dating is a shocker. But then l did see you two at the party all cuddled up,” she teased by cuddling into Dahyun’s shoulder just like Sana did when Dahyun thought no one was close.

Dahyun pushed her off lightly and Nayeon pretended to fall like she was just shot, “Nothing happened at the party!”

“You can tell me, but Jeongyeon would be harder to convince.”

“What were you two even doing outside? I thought you were with Tzu?” Dahyun wondered and Nayeon rolled her eyes at the memory of teaching Tzuyu how to hoe it up.  
“I was, until she decided it was much more fun to flirt with Mina.”

Dahyun laughed, trying to remember the last time she saw Tzuyu flirting. As gorgeous and seductive as the girl was, the most attractive feat about her was her bluntness. “She just walked over to Mina and told her ‘I want you to kiss me right now’”, Nayeon finished her thought.

“If you were with Jeongyeon, then what was Jihyo doing?”

“Sleeping on the dancefloor.”

Dahyun understood the obligations Jihyo faced and how tired she must have been because of it. She smiled at the picture of Jihyo laying face down while Momo and Chaeyoung danced around her. “Wait I have more pictures!” Nayeon said and started scrolling through her phone. She found one she liked and turned the phone to Dahyun. It was a picture of Sana laying on Dahyun’s lap trying not to pass out. “Jeongyeon took this one and rolled her eyes over your cuteness,” she said and showed another photo, “and then we took this amazing selfie. Look at the visuals Dahyun!”

“Wow, that’s gorgeous!” Dahyun responded to the visuals overflowing the picture.

Nayeon scoffed, “Yeah I know! How could Tzuyu choose making out with Mina over spending quality time with someone as stunning as me?” she half joked.

And Dahyun teased her, “I was talking about Jeongyeon, but go off I guess.”

“Eh, she’s okay.” Nayeon breathed in the fresh air, let her skin soak up the sun and enjoyed her day. “She actually really likes you,” she said.

“Jeongyeon?” Dahyun asked before Nayeon nodded.

“Not like that though!” she took it back for a moment, “You grew on her. She might not show it but you did. She sometimes comes off as cold but she just worries about almost everything.”

“And you don’t?”

“Not really, no. I have her to worry for me,” Nayeon said and a big smiled creeped on her face.

Dahyun shook her head, “Enough of that sappy talk. It’s my turn! What kept you from joining us on the last interview we had? Jihyo said you had other obligations,” she asked.

Nayeon collected herself, blinked twice and decided what to tell her. In the end she went with honesty, which is always the best way, Nayeon thought. “I had training for acting. Since the company wants me to sing less, they started to look into other things I can do to help out Twice,” she said facing the floor, “Other than my beauty, of course,” she looked up and flicked her hair, getting a chuckle out of Dahyun.

But Dahyun wondered still, “Why do they want you to sing less?”

“They just want to rest my voice a bit more I think,” Nayeon shrugged. She avoided looking at the younger girl, fearful that her eyes would reveal the secret she’d been hiding.

“Oh wow, is it serious?” Dahyun asked. She worried about Nayeon since she was a natural worrier.

“I complained about my throat being constantly sore so I guess I had it coming,” she said, “I just wish I had gotten more rest before, when I was younger. About your age, actually. I had overworked myself and it’s coming back to bite me in the ass.”

Dahyun didn’t know how to respond, she just simply nodded her head to show Nayeon she was listening, she was there for her.

“Please just don’t do it like I did. You only have one of you so take care of yourself.”

“Okay,” Dahyun took a deep breath, “I just feel like I’m lacking in everything else but hard work. I have to compensate it somehow.”

“Why would you think that?”

“I am not as great of a singer as Tzuyu is, I am nowhere near the level of dancing Momo ever was and god knows I am not as gorgeous as they are.”

“You’re right,” Nayeon agreed.

“Thanks.”

“But you are the heart of your group. Everything comes back to you. The songs you write, how you perform, their happiness… everything is connected to you. You, Kim Dahyun, bring different kind of value to your group.”

“I know, but sometimes I just can’t help but feel like it’s all my fault. We could have been on the top already. If only Momo recovered fully, if only that stupid accident hadn’t happened!” Dahyun took a brief moment to collect herself. Her gaze dropped down to the floor, “If only I were there to stop it.”

“Hey!” Nayeon intervened, “Listen to me! That was not your fault!”

Dahyun nodded, her tears started forming again, this time without thinking about Sana, “I know. But I could have stopped it.”

Nayeon wrapped her arm around Dahyun, letting the younger girl cry on her shoulder, “You’re not a superhero Dahyun. Life doesn’t work like that. You can’t just go around expecting to fix everything. Stop punishing yourself for things that aren’t your fault ,” she said trying to comfort her, ”The sins of the whole world are not on your shoulders to carry them."

Dahyun sniffed on Nayeon’s collarbones making the spot, that was miraculously not soaked from sweat, wet with her tears. “Thank you,” she said hugging her friend tightly.

Nayeon laughed and shook her head. “That’s it! I’m never coming back here again. Every time I’m here someone cries.”

And Dahyun laughed through the tears that stopped coming from her ears but were still drying on her cheeks. With her puffy red eyes she said, “Maybe just stop bringing Sana or I here,” and chuckled.

“Next time I’m bringing you both here,” she promised the younger girl.

They sat there for quite a few minutes, hugging each other and enjoying the view, trying to relax from their busy schedules. It was peaceful. The lake at least, it was still, without a single duck inside. But not Dahyun, peaceful wasn’t a word she would describe herself with for a long time. She felt like inside her were two burning flames. One making her want to talk to Sana, for real this time and try to make things right between them, and then the other one wanting her to push her out of her life completely, shut her out, and everyone else with her too. In the end, Dahyun thought it wouldn’t matter what she chose, she’d get burned any way.

“Just try with her,” Nayeon said, “I know she cares about you.”

Dahyun moved herself from Nayeon’s embrace and looked at the girl, perplexed. “I see the way you two look at each other when the other isn’t looking. Just try talking with her. Not for Momo, for yourself.”

Dahyun nodded, thinking she might as well.

 

 _Momo ran that evening, like any other evening. She had to stay in shape to be the dancing machine everyone expected her to be. And with their debut getting closer she had to push herself even more._ _She reached an intersection between two roads that were usually busy, but at that moment, not a single soul was heard. Her legs were killing her already. She never listened to music while running, yet she always found the right tempo to run at. All she heard was her feet_ _dragging through the leaves, crunching them as she ran, as well as her heart, beating like crazy. She soon got in front of the small boy learning to ride his bike._

_She remembered to breathe._

_One breath in._

_And out._

_The scenery was beautiful, almost looked like something made out of a movie._

_The next thing Momo heard was clashing and crashing and people screaming as she forgot how to breathe._

 

A normal day it was, indeed. Sana was surrounded with fans she didn’t want to deal with, not in that moment at least. They were swarming her, trying to get a signature or a picture or at least a little bit of her attention, as the fairly wanted idol tried getting into Rose Petals, the bar she had frequented in ever since their tour finished and their break started. What felt like thousands of hands were reaching for her, millions of voices screaming out her name. A pair of hands successfully grabbed her and dragged her in the bar.

“I’m sorry, but we’re closed right now,” Hyunjin said as she locked the door as soon as she had gotten Sana inside. “You’re gonna get me out of business,” the waitress told Sana as the latter reaffirmed the sunglasses sitting on her face. She tried fixing her hair but the mess on top of her head was too big to be fixable.

“They will come back later and ask about me,” Sana said as she sat by the counter. She sipped the water Hyunjin poured out for her and watched the younger one clean the counter. “It looks like you could use some more publicity for this place,” Sana talked about the bar being completely empty, not a single living soul was inside it besides Hyunjin and her, and even she barely looked alive so that was debatable at the very best.

“Not really. I just kicked everyone out when you texted you were coming.”

“Why did you do that?” Sana asked and Hyunjin shrugged with a smirk on her face.

“You never text, you just come. I kinda imagined you’d come by looking exactly like this,” she said and circled her finger around her face, “a mess.” And that got a chuckle out of Sana. As the counter was left spotless, Hyunjin sat besides her. “What brings you here?”

Words felt heavy for Sana. She had a lot on her mind and talking about it only made it real. But maybe that’s exactly what she needed. To stop pretending and living in a world that seemed perfect and made just for her. To face her problems and the pain they have been causing her, the pain she was desperately trying to run from.

She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to talk. “Did you sleep at all?” Hyunjin asked her, seeing she was barely able to sit without resting her head. Sana nodded, but it was not a convincing nod.

“I need to talk to you,” she said, “I need to talk to someone about this and you’re the only one I can talk to.” She kept her gaze fixated on the shiny counter.

“Is this about her?” Hyunjin asked and brought her enormous hand on top of Sana’s, cupping it and giving the older girl some comfort she knew she needed in that moment.

Sana nodded. Her heart was beating like crazy, Hyunjin could even hear that. Just the slight mention of her still had that affect on Sana.

“I think I still like her,” she finally muttered out.

“You do?” Hyunjin asked, not really surprised.

Sana shook her head, “No. I don’t,” she realized, “I don’t like who she’s become. But I might, possibly still be in love with her. It’s just that whenever I’m near her… I crave being near her even more. I dream of holding her hand and running my fingers through her hair. I try falling asleep and all I can hear is her laugh, all I see are her eyes scrunching when she pretends she doesn’t like me being affectionate.” She quickly said all of that, trying to hold back the tears she didn’t know she even still had. After all those times crying about her, one would think there’s nothing more to cry about, but alas Sana always found a way.

“Thank god, I thought I was going to have to point that out to you.” Hyunjin earned a slap on her shoulder from a giggling Sana.

“Stop messing around!”

“I’m just saying,” the waitress started, “You spend so much time thinking about her, pretending she doesn’t exist, then crying about her so more. After all this time.” Sana finally locked eyes with Hyunjin. She knew she was telling the truth. After all the time Sana tried to push Dahyun out of her life, she forgot that Dahyun was her life. And that scared her to death. Someone with such power and the tendency to hurt her and be hurt by her.

No matter how hard talking about it felt to Sana, she felt comfortable with Hyunjin. Ever since the breakup she talked with her from time to time. Sana would come to the bar to get drunk and Hyunjin would talk her out of it and get her to talk about her problems. And most of the times she was successful. There were times Sana just wouldn’t listen and got drunk. But then she would talk even more, Hyunjin knew by now that Sana was a talkative honest drunk person.

“What are you going to do now?” Hyunjin asked her.

“Nothing.” Sana shrugged and looked away, knowing that wasn’t what Hyunjin wanted to hear, “I’m trying to move on. I have a beautiful girlfriend. It’s not the same and I probably won’t ever love her the way I love Dahyun, but… it’s a start. I think.”

Hyunjin quickly blinked. Twice. “Dahyun? As in Momo’s friend Dahyun?”

Sana nodded. “I told you about her before, why are you surprised?”

“I haven’t met her before this year, though.” Sana sighed at her response.

“Don’t let her steal you away from me!” she chuckled. Joking about that felt so lighthearted to her. It’s like her worries disappeared if she joked about them, like it wasn’t a problem if she could joke about it. She noticed Hyunjin was now the one having troubles talking as the younger one kept on biting her lip. “You okay?” she asked.

Hyunjin wanted to nod her head. “She’s a lovely person,” she said, talking about Dahyun.

“Yes she is,” Sana agreed with her. After all this time, there was still no way Sana could convince herself it wasn’t true, “She’s changed so much though. She’s to selfless for her own good.”

The laughter coming from Hyunjin shocked her, “Tell me about it! She came here once and spent the whole time talking to Heejin. Then she felt awful about taking my girlfriend from me and tried to clean the whole place up instead of me so we could have some time for ourselves.”

“Sounds like her,” Sana smiled softly. Just the thought of Dahyun as she knew her brought a smile on her face. She knew she loved her, yet she knew they are better apart. They both needed to grow by themselves, but it seemed like Dahyun grew like a sunflower without it’s sunshine.

“I’ve hung out with her a couple of times when Heejin and I were still together.”

Now Sana was the one giving the comfort as she brushed her hand against Hyunjin’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to there for you during the breakup.”

Hyunjin shook her head with a smile on her face. “It was a good breakup. She moved to Japan and we decided to not go long distance,” she said, “Speaking of Japan, why aren’t you visiting back home? I thought you were on your break?” she turned towards the girl with her whole body, commanding the room and needing to get an answer out of Sana when the latter girl started waving her hands.

“The family is visiting me here!” she almost started jumping in her seat, “But they are driving me crazy,” the annoyance in her voice followed by an eyeroll made Hyunjin snort from laughing. “I love them to death but being with them sometimes feels more like work than actually working.”

Hyunjin nodded, knowing exactly what Sana was saying. “Anyway, if Heejin needs any help in Japan, with language or anything else, just text me. I’ll be happy to help you out!” she said and hugged the younger girl’s shoulder, making Hyunjin laugh with just being her normal clingy self.

“Thanks I’ll let her know,” she said with a wink followed by a thumbs up, “But I think she has almost everything covered. She has some family living there and she spent too much time learning the language with Dahyun. I mean she spent more time doing that than doing me,” she started shaking her head again. Sana’s eyes shot up as she moved her head from Hyunjin’s shoulder and moved it slightly to the right, as if she was inspecting the situation.

“Learning Japanese? With Dahyun?”

Hyunjin nodded.

“Dahyun speaks Japanese?” she asked so soft and quiet it was barely heard.

Hyunjin nodded again. “I guess so.” The expression on Sana’s face turned into a confused frown, her eyes searching the room, trying to fixate on something, anything. Hyunjin took her by her shoulders. “What’s up?” she asked as Sana still looked sad, “Tell me and I’ll let you hug me!” she said as she knew that being affectionate to other people made Sana’s mood turn up for better.

Sana nodded and started hugging Hyunjin, squeezing her so hard, the girl’s eyes would fall out if she hadn’t rolled them back enough. “I always wanted to be the one that taught her about my language and our culture. I just feel like I missed out on so much with her.”

“So much about moving on.”

“I really am going to try. She let me go already, there’s no point in trying to get her back. I am going to do anything to move on,” the determination in her voice as prominent as ever.

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Hyunjin sincerely wanted to know.

Sana sighed. “I’ll stop trying to push her out of my life when she already isn’t in it. I’ll stop trying to get her to hate me. If it hurts then it hurts. I have to let my feelings go away naturally instead of trying to get rid of them.”

“You’ll try by not trying?” Hyunjin was confused.

“Exactly!” Sana exclaimed.

“That makes no sense.”

Sana shrugged. “Nothing makes sense if you think about it.”

Hyunjin rolled her eyes. Again. “If you start going all ‘the earth is flat’ on me I’m banning you from Rose Petals for good!”

Sana let out a laugh, filling the empty room with her giggles before she started hitting Hyunjin’s shoulder.

“Are you staying for a bit more or are you making me go back to work?” the waitress asked.

“I’ll be good to you and give you some more free time.”

Hyunjin nodded and walked away. “Just know that you are welcome to stay for however long you want.”

 

“ _Are you okay?” she said, turning back to the scene. As she got no response she jumped straight in, dragging the young boy away from his squashed bike. He fell hard, but trying not to touch the bruises was not something Momo was worried about. She simply tried to get him away from danger._

“ _Are you okay?” she repeated. And this time the boy nodded. He was still in shock, but after the car crashed into him and the pole right next to him, he was lucky to get away with no broken bones._

“ _No!” the guy that had gotten out of the car shouted. Momo tried getting closer, getting him to calm down._

_She took a few steps towards him._

“ _Do we need to call the hospital?” she asked him, but the man kept staring at the remaining pieces of his car._

_She got a few steps closer._

_And then. A loud sound pierced through Momo’s soul. She tried looking at what was going on, but everything was either on fire or jet black._

_A piece from the car that just exploded hit her leg and before Momo knew she was knocked down and laying on the ground._

_The next thing Momo saw were the blue ambulance lights racing in her direction._

 

 

When Sana got back to her dorm room she was greeted by Jihyo and Mina. Something was off, Sana was sure of that as soon as she saw the two girls get quiet when they noticed her.

“What’s up?” She sat besides Mina who quickly looked at her and then looked back at Jihyo, expecting her to be the one who started talking.

“I guess you haven’t heard the news yet, then,” the leader said, calming as usual. Sana looked at Mina and back at Jihyo, then back at Mina trying to figure out which one of them is actually going to say something useful.

“We’re having a comeback in three months,” Mina said and Sana’s smile widened.

She lifted her hands up in excitement, “That’s great news! Isn’t it?” She was confused, three months was enough to get them some rest and to properly prepare for everything, yet soon enough to not leave them jobless meanwhile, but the looks and silence of the other two girls worried her.

Jihyo nodded and smiled, not as bright as usually, “It is. But it’s a collab,” she said.

“With F.A.I.R.Y.” Mina finished her thoughts. To their surprise, Sana shrugged, “That’s still good, right?” she said, “I’ve seen our fans go crazy for them and our groups managed to get along really well this past tour. Why do I feel like something else is going on?”

“It’s not!” Mina said and Jihyo chimed in. “But we are worried about you,” making Sana scrunch her eyebrows.

“About you being unnecessary mean to Dahyun.” Sana surprised them again by nodding and being interested in the conversation and not just shrugging it off and changing the subject.

She looked at the both of them, feeling her chest swell up as if something was pressing on it, “I’m not going to do that,” she said.

“You’ve said that before, but every time you get the opportunity you just do it again.”

Sana shook her head. “Not this time. It’s different now.”

“Why?” Jihyo asked.

Sana was torn, she knew if she went on with this conversation she would reveal things that were hidden for a reason. “Because,” she said looking at the Jihyo’s big sweet caring eyes, “I’m done with being unhappy,” she decided. She felt as if a weight had been lifted off her chest. “I’m done with being something I’m not, pretending just so I don’t get hurt. It’s going to hurt, but I’m okay with that. I just want to be happy again. Be myself.”

Jihyo and Mina both got closer to her, comforting her with their touch and scent. “You can talk to me about it,” said Jihyo.

And Sana did. She sat there in their laps and told them everything. From the way Dahyun’s face lit up when they talked for the first time and how it made her feel like nothing else mattered, how they started their relationship, their first date, the way Dahyun’s dad made fun of her breaking the plates while setting up the dinner table when her girlfriend introduced them. How proud she felt of Dahyun when she first heard the news of their group and how she felt like she would never be as important as the group to her. She told them every detail. How Dahyun snored in the most adorable way, but only if you left the window open and it made Sana want to never close the window ever again. About Dahyun being chosen as the leader and how that started feeling like the end and about Momo’s accident and how that actually was the end.

 

_Dahyun and Sana were walking down their park, near their lake,hand in hand and big smiles on their faces, when suddenly Dahyun got a phone call. Her face dropped completely and she turned even whiter than usual. She stayed silent. Her phone slipped out of her hands just as the tears started slipping down her cheeks. She ran both of her hands through her hair and muttered out wo words in between her cries. “Momo. Hospital.”_

_Sana understood._

_It wasn’t hard to find her room in the hospital. They met the manager and she quickly guided them to her._

_She laid in her bed, counting the cracks on the wall in front of her, being forced not to move and all._

“ _How are you,” Dahyun asked her._

“ _They say everything is fine besides my leg,” she said and pointed at the cast, “It’s broken.”_

_This wasn’t good._

_Dahyun squeezed her hand and both she and Sana assured her everything was going to be okay eventually._

_Outside of the room, the manager waited for them. “She won’t heal in time for the debut,” she said. Dahyun felt the heat coming through her body, adrenaline, shock, realization that this might very well be the end of their dreams, of what they have worked so hard for the last couple of months._

“ _What now?” she asked._

“ _We’re delaying your debut. For now.”_

_Dahyun nodded, this wasn’t something she wanted ever to hear again. As if the day couldn’t get worse._

_The mangaer looked at her again, Dahyun expecting to hear some more bad news, “But Somi already said she’s tired of waiting,” she said, “She chose to leave the company.”_

_Dahyun’s world came crashing down and even though Sana was there to pick up her pieces, as usual, some pieces just weren’t meant to be picked up._

“ _If I had only gone with her,” she said as the pair sat and waited for the doctors to finish their examination._

_Sana put an arm around her shoulder, letting Dahyun calm down in her embrace. “This isn’t your fault Dahyun,” she whispered in her ear._

_Dahyun took her arm off her shoulder and stared her blank, “You’re right, “ she said, “It’s your fault.”_

“ _What? You don’t mean that.”_

“ _If you hadn’t pushed me to go out with you! You always want me to put you first and then things like that happen.”_

_Sana was taken aback. She shifted in her seat as her voice began to crack, “What are you saying?”_

_Dahyun shook her head, feeling all of the held back emotions, the anger. “You just had to ruin everything for me, didn’t you.”_

“ _Dahyun this-”_

“ _Leave!” she shouted._

_Sana got out of her seat and opened her mouth. “No. I’m not leaving you. You can’t get rid of me like that.”_

“ _Leave me alone! You already destroyed the only thing I care about!” tears started streaming down her face once again. Sana felt the rage with which it was said._

“ _Baby, please.”_

“ _Leave,” she said without looking at her. It hurt too much but it had to be done._

_Sana left._

And to that day she hadn’t returned to be herself again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah that was that. How are you feeling about their backstory? How do you think their interactions change when they practice for the collab?  
> I hope you enjoyed this one, i finally managed to not upload it at 4am but now i am late for work so  
> until next one, rei:)


	9. Fine Line Between Love and Hate

Sweat dripped down her face, her cheeks becoming redder, Momo swiped the bangs off her forehead and focused on the moves. She observed Mina as the two were trying their best, as always.  
“This is a really hard move Momo,” Mina said, “it looks so smooth!” she gave her best friend a pat on the back and wiped her hand with her shirt as Momo sighed. “Are we sure we can all pull this off?” Momo asked. “Because I want this to be the best damn choreography the world has ever seen.”

Mina gave her a reassuring smile. “It will be.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I can. Because you are one of the most talented dancers and choreographers I’ve ever met. And I know how hard all of us work,” she said looking down at Momo’s leg that the older one was spreading the cooling gel all over.

“Does it still hurt?” Momo looked over to her and unconvincingly shook her head.  
“I haven’t felt any pain in so long,” she said, “it hurts when I stand for too long but it’s manageable.”

“Should we take a break?”

“We have to finish the choreography and then we will present it to the girls and then, if they like it, to the company,” Momo answered. “So I guess that’s a no,” Mina got up again with a giggle escaping her mouth. She extended her hand for Momo to take and get up too. And they danced again. For what felt like the longest time. Their bodies completely in sync with each other, their breaths getting faster. It felt like being in a trans for Momo.

“I think my arms are going to fall off any second now,” the younger one noted and Momo almost blurted out the water in agreement.

“It feels so nice to be dancing with you again though,” she tells her. The music quiets down when the two girls sat down, with their backs pressed against the mirror making sure that the sweat would stick on it. “We really haven’t done this in such a long time.” She scrunches her face and let’s herself go into her thoughts. Of their trio together before all of it came crumbling. Thoughts about how happy and carefree they were when together. How she found herself a family in them. “It sucks,” Momo says, snapping her away from it, “It sucks that I can’t dance with you whenever we feel like it.”

“But that’s not what’s upsetting you, is it?” Mina carefully asks.

“You know how I feel about all of it. Like I’m losing you and I can’t do anything to stop it.,” Mina looks at her, seeing her face completely dropping makes her whole body turn inside out.

“You’re not losing me. After everything you’ve done for me, there’s no way Momoring.”

“What about Sana?” Momo lifts her face to look her. The words felt heavy and voicing them was hard.

“What about her?”

“Can you tell me I’m not losing her either?” the stern look on her face hid the emotions her voice gave out.

“I’m not Sana, so no.”

“I thought so,” she said reaching for the water bottle. While opening it she looked at Mina once again, trying to come up with words that were stuck inside her for some time. “It hurts because I know I’ll always be there for you two and lately I’m not sure either of you would do the same for me.”

Mina interjected. “That’s not true! I-”

“It’s okay. We’ll work it out eventually,” Momo said, “Because I know for sure we will always keep choosing each other. We will always be coming back to us. Back home.”

And Mina smiled. Genuinely. Because at the end of the day, both of them were sure of this. “I’ll always cherish us Momo,” she said. Her lips moved up as she flashed her a gummy smile.

“Sana is just different, you know,” and Mina nods knowing what changed her and how she is trying to get back to what she was. “Back to work now?”

“Would you mind if it were just dancing so I can rest for a bit?” And so Momo rested and watched Mina dance, corrected her moves and commented where to improve.

As Mina lifted her left leg up Momo sighed. “What?” Mina asked seeing the reflection of it in the mirror.

“I don’t like that move.”

“You know it’s one of my favourites,” Mina protested while lifting her leg again and spinning on the other. “This has to be in the choreo.”

“Fine, but at least bend your back more.” And Mina did as she said. “Much better.” The expressions she gave off were fierce contrasted to how elegant she usually looked. Her hair covered her face as she was running out of breath towards the end and she was sure her legs would give out sooner or later.

After some more twirling and popping and hopping and lots of sweat dripping of their bodies the duo finished choreographing the part of their new comeback. Both of them sat on the wooden floor, trying to chat for a bit.

“I’ve seen a lot of positive comments about your group recently,” Mina started and Momo smiled at her.

“I did too. Especially about Dahyun,” she said and let out a sigh, her face crumbled up and Mina caught that quite easily.

“Is that not good?” she threw her a questioning look.

Momo shook her head. “She worked so hard for it. For all of us. Don’t get me wrong I love that she is getting recognition, but recently it’s been as if it didn’t phase her at all. Like no matter what happened she wouldn’t be satisfied.”

“Like she wanted more?”

“No,” Momo shook her head again, “like it didn’t matter at all. It seems that not much matters to her. She just wants to make other people happy and forgets about her own happiness.”

The words sound familiar to Mina. “That’s exactly what Sana said about her.”

Momo jerked her head hearing those words. “Sana talked about Dahyun? What insults did she use this time?”

“None,” Mina laughed, “Jihyo and her were just voicing their concerns about Dahyun.” Momo couldn’t believe her ears. Sana? Concerned about Dahyun? Was there some weird butterfly effect going on or was she suddenly thrown back into the past? “Yeah it was weird! Now get your eyes back into your skull Momo,” she said to her friend who forgot how expressive she could be. “But she started trying to get back to her happy self. And she said getting over Dahyun was the first step.”

“I didn’t even know she wasn’t happy!” Momo said, a hint of disappointment present in her trembling voice, “she’s always just so cheerful and I’m not used to her being able to hide her feelings.”

“Well you haven’t seen her a lot.”

“Wow thanks,” Momo said while pretending to cry and Mina reacted as such and pretended to wipe her tears away. “But it’s true though.”

Mina wrapped her arm around her and Momo laid her head on the soft fabric of Mina’s sweaty t-shirt. The pair was still sitting on the floor as Mina drew circles on Momo’s shoulder. Both of them content with the silence in the room.

And then Momo decided to break it.

“Wait,” she said and got out of the hug to face Mina, “You said _getting over Dahyun.”_ Mina’s gaze went everywhere but to Momo. “Look at me,” said Momo.

“I- I misspoke,” she tried getting out of it. But Momo notice how her voice was shaking.

“First you tell me she’s unhappy,” starts Momo, in utter disbelief, “then you tell me Dahyun and her used to be together. What’s next? Is she going to tell me she actually is of royal blood?” the dancer threw her hands trying to contain her hot head.

“Are you angry,” Mina asked.

Momo sighed. “Yeah, a bit. But not at you.”

The door creaked as it opened.

“But at her,” Momo said pointing at Sana who was the first of the girls to arrive to the practice.

Sana pointed at herself as well as she didn’t hear even a bit of their conversation. “What did I do now?”

“You kept things away from me,” Momo said with a pout on her face while watching the Twice member sit next to her. As Sana was about to hug her, Momo looked away and scoffed.

“I guess Mina told you about that thing,” she said while glaring at Mina who lifted her hands in her defense.

With both Momo and Sana glaring at her, Momo spoke first. “How long have you known?”

“I just told her last week,” Sana defended one of her friends while still trying to get that pout off the other one’s face.

But it wouldn’t go away. “Why didn’t you tell me then as well?” Momo asked.

“You two are in the same group Momo! I didn’t want to cause any bad blood between you two.”

“When had that ever stopped you?” Momo shook her head.

Sana nodded, understanding that Momo wanted the full explanation. And she figured her best friend absolutely deserved one. “At first it was so exciting trying to hide it. And I wasn’t as close to the other girls as I am now so I didn’t know if I could trust them with that. Me dating a girl? My career would be ruined!”

“Wow you sound exactly like-”

“Dahyun, ironic isn’t it,” Sana interrupted Momo’s interruption, “Then we broke up. And I just couldn’t bring myself to talk about it. I kept it from anyone else and it was starting to eat me alive. It didn’t hurt as much because I didn’t allow it to hurt. I thought, if I just pretended it never happened, then it wouldn’t hurt as much. But it’s hurting so much more now.”

Momo looked at Sana telling the story without interrupting her. She knew Sana needed to get it out of her, she wasn’t the one to keep things bottled she couldn’t handle unresolved things so it was unnatural how long she kept that away from anybody. “When did you two break up,” she asked.

“A couple of months before your debut.”

Momo was stopped in her thoughts. She looked at Sana. “Is that the reason why we barely talked lately.”

Sana didn’t speak up but her silence spoke for itself.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Momo said and raised her eyebrows while looking at Mina who tried being as silent as possible knowing it was not her story to tell.

“Just don’t blame any of it on her,” Sana said and Momo shook her head. “Are we okay?” Sana asked and Momo nodded. And before Sana could ask for a hug Momo was already there in her embrace.

“How are you so early though?” Mina asked since Sana came there half an hour before she was supposed to.

“I was trying to meditate but I got so bored.”

“So, you’ve got nothing better to do?” Momo teased her to which Sana just playfully rolled her eyes at.

Sana shrugged. “I’m trying new things to get rid of my unhealthy behaviour.”

“And how is that going so far?” Momo asked.

“It could be better, but it could also be worse.”

Momo put her soft stuffy cheeks in her hands. “As long as it makes you happier.”

“You have to try to be happy, you need to want it. it’s something you work for. And I am doing that right now,” Sana said determined to get back on her feet.

“I’m glad.”

“Me too.” Mina chimed in.

“Just don’t keep things away from me. It makes me feel unimportant to you.”

“You are not. I might not tell you some things but that’s because they are not as important to me as you are.”

Mina stopped for a bit, trying to mutter out the words. “But that was important to you, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. It was,” Sana sighed and collected herself, “ but not anymore.”

Momo gave out a shy smile that eludes a hint of sadness she felt for her friend. She lays her head on her shoulder, trying to comfort Sana in a way she knew she liked. “And all this time I had no clue.”

“You learn to hide a lot of things, being in this industry,” Sana said. Her voice softly rang through the room and yet pierced right through Momo.

“You usually couldn’t hide a thing from me. I could always read you,” she said. The silence dawned over them as Sana squeezed Momo’s cheeks and placed a gentle kiss on her scalp.

“I think that’s what made us drift apart,” her soft silvery tone echoed through the room as Momo gave her a look, one that pierced right through Sana’s soul, “I was so hurt when we broke up and I knew I wouldn’t be able to hide it from you,” she said, “You already had too much on your plate just with your leg and I didn’t want you to worry about me too.”

“I would gladly worry about you every day for the rest of our lives,” Momo said. Sana thanked her by placing a ton of gentle kisses all over Momo’s face and Mina quickly went with the gesture and placed kisses of her own. Suddenly Momo was being showered with kisses and affection from two of her closest friends.

“Stop babying me!” she tried fighting it off while laughing the most she had in a while now. But Sana and Mina never stopped, instead Sana placed herself on Momo’s lap and hugged her torso so tight Momo thought her inner organs could fall out any second.

“You are our baby now! Mina stated and Sana agreed.

“Mina used to be our baby,” Momo looked at Sana, pouting.

Sana giggled. “I don’t know what we were thinking,” she said looking at Mina who shook her head along, “You are obviously the babiest!”  
Momo rolled her eyes, trying to escape their embrace once again as their hands caressed every inch of her face. “But let me go now,” she started, “Baby needs to go to the bathroom,” she said and the girls let go of her as she left the practice room.

Mina shifted her body closer to Sana. With their shoulders touching, she looked at her and asked: “Are you not going to tell her you essentially broke up because of her accident?”

Sana shook her head. “We didn’t break up because of that. We were long gone before that.”

“But it still played a part,” Mina continued.

“It did.”

“So?” She asked again.

“She must not know. She’ll just end up being hurt,” Sana sighed. The weight of hiding yet another thing from her best friend suffocated her.

“And if someone else told her? Wouldn’t that hurt her more?”

Sana’s gaze pierced through Mina. “She must not know.”

 

Soon after the entire group walked in to start the practice. Dahyun was quick to search for Sana’s eyes that kept getting away from her. The older girl focused on Mina. And Momo. And the way the two of them absolutely elevated the room with their dancing.

“Let’s get this thing going!” Chaeyoung yelled as she carelessly strutted in, making Momo be the first one to stop the routine and give her a warm smile. Dahyun teasingly poked Chaeyoung’s shoulder when she was trying to hide the way her heart fluttered just seeing the older girl doing what she loves. Sadly for Chaeyoung, the red flushed cheeks gave it all away. Sana finally looked over to Dahyun, who could have sworn Sana was trying her hardest to not insult her for existing. The younger girl was wearing her usual ugly checkered pants, the ones that Sana always found extremely adorable, but only when Dahyun was the one wearing them. Just by taking one look at her, Sana knew she was still in too deep with her. The girl looked like she could still fit completely into Sana’s arms and she was actually trying hard not to run over to her and hug her, trying hard not to want Dahyun to notice her.

It didn’t take them long to start practicing. Only half an hour, but all of them said there were more important things than getting the choreo right on the first try. The bond they created during their tour was something else, the friendships they made were sure to last for eternity. Momo and Jeongyeon spent half of the time recommending each other places to eat after the practice.

“You should really check out that bbq place down the street!” Momo said, her eyes rolling from excitement, “They have the best food in the neighbourhood!” And when Jeongyeon started jumping up and down, Momo was shocked, “The one with the red walls?” Jeongyeon asked, “I’ve been there a couple of times! It really is amazing,” she said. Only food could make Jeongyeon excited like that. “We should go there together!” she suggested to which Jeongyeon nodded her head like crazy, her whole body was rocking back and forth.

“Don’t you have to record your demo later, Jeongyeon?” Nayeon chimed in. Jeongyeon turned her head and saw a stern look on her face, while she was still very much confused herself. “We talked yesterday about it.” Jeongyeon pointed at her and nodded her head, not even a bit as enthusiastic as before and she could have sworn she could hear someone mutter “whipped” underneath their breath but when she turned to face the other girls all of them were talking on their own, while only Jihyo sat next to Tzuyu, giggling her ass of.

“Then who is going to take me to eat? I’m already hungry!” Momo whined.

“I’ll take you.” Suddenly, two voices said. Sana and Dahyun looked towards each other, both of them sitting on the opposite side of the room, Sana next to Mina and Nayeon, while Dahyun placed herself on Chaeyoung’s lap, since she is probably the only one that could still fit there. Neither of them dared to blink, both of them stayed silent, there were no words spoken only Jihyo giggling at Jeongyeon could still be heard. That was until Momo broke the tension.

“I’m going with Sana,” she said, “Chaeyoung, do you want to join?” she asked the young rapper who tried looking cool by shrugging and yet the blush on her cheeks was still present.

“At least I’ll be saving money,” Dahyun tried pretending to be hurt with it, but Sana, who knew her too well, smiled at her reassuringly, which Dahyun mistook as anything but kind.

“Now let’s actually get to practicing,” Jihyo said eager to start. Dahyun was the first one to stand up and start stretching while the other girls followed shortly after.

It’s been a couple of minutes and while the girls struggled with synchronizing their movements, most of them had gotten the choreo down. Dahyun and Tzuyu were amongst the first ones since most of the moves were the ones Momo had shown them in the past.

“Dahyun, I need your help with this part,” Jeongyeon cried out before the F.A.I.R.Y. member came to her help. At first Dahyun showed her the move again so Jeongyeon could see exactly what she was supposed to do. Even though Momo and Mina were phenomenal dancers they almost sucked as teachers. Mostly because the moves came so easy to them, they didn’t understand where the problem might be. But since Dahyun struggled a lot with dancing and learning the moves, she was an ideal teacher to others. And her bubbly personality only helped.

Jeongyeon tried repeating the move while Dahyun stood and observed what she was doing. The part started while she was seated on the floor and on the third beat she was supposed to raise her arms while standing up, looking to the sky wearing a huge grin.

“You flail your arms too much,” Dahyun commented and Jeongyeon narrowed her eyes when her teacher showed the correct move again. She nodded and repeated again. Now her movements were more precised, but Dahyun only pursed her lips and sighed. “There’s something missing,” she said.

“More emotions?” Jeongyeon asked.

“Probably. Try again,” she instructed.

And Jeongyeon tried again, this time trying to remember exactly what feeling she was trying to convey. Her small lips pressed together tightly, strains of hair in front of her face as she extended her neck, looking all elegant.

“You just look tired.” Dahyun left out a chuckle. “But still gorgeous. Good job.”

Jeongyeon shook her head as she heard those words, the praise, she left out a sigh she didn’t know she had been holding. “That’s because I am tired.” She rolled her eyes. “Watch me one more time,” she said.

She got down to the floor where she was joined by Sana. Dahyun watched over them, trying to spot any slight mistake, her eyes subconsciously focused on a certain blonde haired member. She carefully observed how her hands moved, the elegance eluding from her fingers, her warm brown eyes that were way too focused on the choreography. How her hair flew and how effortless she could make anything look. How hot she made- No! She couldn’t be thinking that.

She tried fixating her gaze back to the both of them but her eyes wouldn’t listen. Sana’s presence was way too captivating for Dahyun to handle. Sana’s body thrembled as she finished the part out of breath and Dahyun couldn’t help but stare at the way the older member ran her hand through her messy hair. She wondered if Sana’s touch still had the same effect on her as it used to.

“Dahyun, was that good?” Jeongyeon asked, shaking her away from her thoughts for a brief moment.

“It was great!” she said before turning back to Sana again.

“Can you help me with the whole arm thing,” Sana asked after Jeongyeon left to work on a different part with Chaeyoung.

Dahyun scoffed and rolled her eyes. “What? No insult now?”

Sana furrowed her eyebrows. “No. Should there be one?”

“No. It’s not- No.. I-”

“Okay,” Sana nodded her head and relaxed the tension in her shoulders that she just noticed. “So,” she said, “Are you going to help me or not?”

Dahyun nodded. She moved closer to her and when Sana started doing her part she instinctively guided her arms. She gently squeezed the inside of her lower arm and moved it through the air, showing Sana how it was supposed to look.

“Like this?” Sana asked as she tried the move by herself when she got out of Dahyun’s hold.

“You’re a natural,” she said.

“Thank you.” Sana smiled at her. Not seeing the person she loved, only the one teaching her. As she walked away Dahyun could still the way her skin felt against her. The softness it left could never be compared to anything else.

 

It had been at least an hour or even more since the girls actually started practicing, honestly nobody took track of time with all of them being too busy with it looking the best it possibly could.

“Mina, Momo,” Jihyo said, “this is an amazing choreography!”

“I’d bet my ass that they decided to go with that!” Nayeon chimed in.

“Thanks guys,” said Momo as Mina smiled shyly behind her.

Jeongyeon brought out her phone. “Should we watch the footage and see how we can improve?” she suggested as the girls curled up next to her, plummeting over each other while trying to secure their spots as the closest to the screen. Tzuyu watched everyone crawl back on their feet and sighed as she stepped next to Jeongyeon and pressed play while shaking her head at her fellow members and her friends.

At the beginning they were completely in sync, perfect formation with Nayeon, as expected, taking the center position.

“Jihyo you are late here,” Momo noticed Twice’s leader being out of sync with the rest of them and Jihyo made a mental note to fix that in the future. It was truly magical how much they looked like they belonged to perform together, each of them bringing something unique to the performance. A couple of moments into the performance each group got their own moment to shine, first was F.A.I.R.Y. taking the stage as the six Twice members stood behind them while the three of them stood front and center leading the dance break. Right at the middle the groups changed and it was Twice who was in front, slouched with their hair in front of the face. When they stood up the groups collided into one big group, dancing together.

Mina pointed at the side of the screen. “Momo you’re so off beat!”

“I have a weak leg okay, I’m sorry,” she joked while pouting which brought a chuckle out of Tzuyu and Dahyun, the two of them being used to hearing that excuse.

“Dahyun you are also off beat,” Sana noted.

Dahyun rolled her eyes. “Of course I am,” she muttered underneath her breath but it wasn’t quiet enough.

“What?” Mina barked hearing what Dahyun had to say.

“She’s just saying that because it’s me!”

“You really messed up on this part though,” Momo chimed in, making Dahyun roll her eyes once more while Sana stayed out of it, ignored the whole thing and focused solely on the clip played.

“You’ll get it next time.” Nayeon patted Dahyun’s back, trying to lift her spirits and maybe ease the tension.

"I can't wait to see us perform this!" Jeongyeon mentions. "I'm really sick of those demo vocals already." 

"I think they sound way better than you usually do," Nayeon started bickering with her.

"You just wish they used that voice instead of your own." 

"Low blow," said Nayeon as Jeongyeon and her were the only two laughing.

The clip went on for some more time, they even decided to rewatch some parts and comment on the slightest things, like the way their hair flows during a part. Really focusing on the details. But Dahyun still couldn’t get over it. Not being perfect. Messing up. And Sana being the one to call her out.

“This looks bad,” she pointed to the small part of Sana dancing. The other members looked at her, while Mina gave her a side eye.

“It looks good to me,” Jeongyeon said and Chaeyoung nodded with her.

Sana still ignored it.

“I just feel like it could be better,” Dahyun said again with Mina just shaking her head next to her.

“How? If it wasn’t Sana doing it?”

Dahyun stayed silent, but the lack of words let everybody know that it was exactly what she had been thinking.

“Let’s move forward for now,” Jihyo said, hoping that it would all calm down by itself.

Sana still ignored it. Still ignored her.

 

They practiced for about half an hour more on their own before their actual choreographer showed up. The girls showed her the dance full of power, gracefulness and elegance, they even included their signature cuteness in it, there was no way that would be left out, not when all of them looked naturally cute. They wowed her and made sure she would give some extra good words to the company about it. Everybody was in a good mood and joked around. Well almost everybody. As soon as Dahyun heard Sana giggle at Ms. Kwon, their choreographer, joking around she couldn’t help but feel everything in her body heat up.

“Dahyun try to relax,” Ms Kwon said as she saw the young girl’s fists clenched. Which in retrospect wasn’t a good thing to say since it riled her up even more.

“Let’s do it again,” Ms. Kwon said, instructing the girls to their original formation.

But Dahyun still couldn’t do it. Her giggles, those damn giggles couldn’t get out of her head. So she made a mistake. Again.

“What if we just stop for today, we’ve had a long practice before that,” Jihyo suggested, seeing the way Dahyun acted.

“No!” F.A.I.R.Y.’s leader objected. “We’re so close, we just need a couple more minutes.”

Ms. Kwon decided to jump into the conversation. “Actually I too have to be somewhere else pretty soon so we could break this up and continue tomorrow.”

The rest of the girls agreed while Dahyun reluctantly followed them out of the room with a sour face.

“Why are you trying to pick a fight with her.” Dahyun was stopped going her way. Turning around she saw a familiar, but not friendly face.

“I’m not,” she said.

“Do you want her back?” Mina asked, grabbing Dahyun by the shoulder.

“I don’t even know what you are talking about.”

Mina raised her eyebrows and tightened her grip.

“N-no… no I don’t want her back,” Dahyun said trying to break the eye contact.

“Then it shouldn’t bother you that she is ignoring your attempts at being petty.” Mina scoffed.

“It doesn’t!”

“If you say so,” she said and walked out in front of her before turning to her for the last time. “If you hurt her again this won’t be our last talk.”

 

 

“So,” Mina started, “did you like it?” The sun shining down her skin throughout the window, she shifts closer to Tzuyu as the pair sits down next to Tzuyu’s bed.

“It was good,” she lets out a simple worded response trying hard not to look at the absolute perfection sitting next to her. She sat so close to her she could feel her head leaned against her shoulder. If only she moved a bit closer. But she stayed still.

“I really loved it when Marcus tried being all grown up and responsible. It felt so out of character but so appropriate. What do you think?” Mina asked again. And Tzuyu nodded, the words coming out of Mina’s mouth nearly made no sense, perhaps that was due to her mind getting foggy every time she was near her. Mina’s gentle voice rang through her head, reminded her of the way they used to be when the whole idol life was still just a dream. But now, it’s not idol life that was her dream- it was Mina.

“You’re not really listening to me, are you?” Mina questioned the tall girl next to her. Tzuyu turned to face her and she could swear her smile just melted everything inside her. She felt her worries disappear just being close to her. “What are you thinking about?” she asked.

Tzuyu shrugged. She thought carefully about what she wanted to say. “I don’t know. I’m just thinking.”

“Yes, about what?” Mina giggled.

“Honestly?” she looked over to see Mina nodding to hear her response. “You. About how grateful I am that we managed to hold onto our friendship or whatever we have.” Mina’s heart startled at those words. _Whatever we have_. _So it wasn’t just a friendship, right?_ “Unlike Sana and Dahyun.”

“Wait you know about that?” Mina asked.

“I don’t know how nobody else found out. They were pretty obvious.”

“I guess...”

Mina moved closer and this time Tzuyu could feel her leaning against her for real which brought a small smile to her lips. “You are so soft,” she said.

“Maybe just a bit for you,” Mina giggled like she only giggle for Tzuyu.

“Good to know,” Tzuyu teased, “but I was talking about your skin being soft!”

“Then you should have said it that way!”

Tzuyu shook her head. “You know I don’t speak that good.” Mina went out of her way to squeeze her hand, gently running circles over her thumb.

“That’s not true. You’ve been in Korea for longer than I have. You speak amazing!”

After long years being in Korea and learning the language some people still went out of their way to insult the way she spoke, after all the effort she put into it, it still made her self conscious. “I’m just nervous sometimes. Especially when we go onto variety shows and I have to talk. I can just picture myself saying something wrong before it happens,” she said.

“So that’s what’s on your mind,” Mina sighed.

“No it really was only you on my mind.” Tzuyu intertwined their fingers and brought Mina’s hand closer so she could kiss it.

Mina laughed at the action, revealing her gummy smile. “Chou Tzuyu, you’re so cheesy.”

“Maybe just a bit for you.”

Them being close to each other was enough for now. They didn’t have to kiss to prove each other how much they mattered. Sure, Tzuyu thought about the softness of Mina’s lips, especially now, looking like that, all kissable next to her.

“So what are you doing nowadays?” Mina asked shyly.

“Nowadays.” Tzuyu chuckled. “Like we don’t talk to each other regularly.”

“I could know everything about you and still want to know more,” Mina shrugged which made Tzuyu roll her eyes and Mina was sure she could hear her say _cute_ underneath her breath.

“Fine. I’m setting up a thing, almost like a foundation, for volunteers to help clean the ocean,” she admitted.

“Why don’t you ever talk about that publicly?” Mina asked.

“I might be a bit afraid that people would start talking about me doing it for publicity.”

“But don’t you want to talk about those important issues?” They way Mina looked at Tzuyu, the way she sounded, it completely melted her heart, broke down all her walls, but that was something she got used to over time, the way Mina made her feel safe.

“I wanted to ask the company but I got scared,” she shrugged.

“Whatever you plan on doing about it,” Mina said as she pressed her forehead against Tzuyu’s cheeks, “I will stand with you.”

 

 

It had been days, no weeks, since the group last had a meeting with the upper management. Dahyun’s stomach was twisted in itself as she felt like devouring herself just so she wouldn’t have to be present. The girls were left inside the room by a new secretary they hadn’t yet had a chance to talk to. As they sat across the room from the two old men, they looked at each other and felt at ease.  _No matter what happens we got each other._

“So here’s the deal ladies,” the firs man started, “we called you in here because we have some thing to discuss, don’t we Jisung,” he said as he addressed the other guy in the room.

“That is true. First of all, we would like to congratulate you on your successful debut,” he said and nodded towards all three of the members. “Second of all, we would like to commend you for your hard work during the tour with Twice. You managed to gain even more fans that our office had anticipated.” The girls’ smiles grew bigger and bigger with every word he said.  _Was that really how being praised felt like?_

“Now, for the upcoming comeback,” he said and revealed the monitor behind them, “since you are a feature on Twice’s album your team gets a smaller percentage of the sales. But it should be comparable to what your own albums would be selling right now so don’t worry too much about the numbers.” He started pointing at the charts. Dahyun’s eyes looked over there but all she could do was follow the stick he had been pointing with. All the blue lines, green lines, that didn’t really make sense to her, nor did it matter too much, all she worried about was going back on stage and putting on the best performance she could.

“Our team has also researched the market and found out the most appropriate hairstyles for you to have during the promotion period.” He could hear the groans from the women sitting across, the whole room could hear it actually.

“Dahyun will go back to brown, Tzuyu will stay the same,” he said and pointed to each member, stopping by Momo, “you are going blonde!”

Momo almost fell out of her chair. “I am not!” she objected. “It’s my hair and I do what I want with it!”

Jisung came closer to her trying to reach am agreement in which Momo listened to what he said. “But we are responsible for your image,” he said.

“And I am responsible in making you money. Fans come to watch  _me,_ to see  _me_  give all the effort on the stage and  _I_ wont’ be giving it my all if I am blonde!” she exclaimed standing up from the chair, making both Tzuyu and Dahyun look over to her.

“Dahyun, please reason with her,” Jisung begged the leader to help him make his case.

“I’m sorry but I’m with her.” She chuckled, turning her head to see if he was actually trying to get her to side with him instead of her fellow member, her friend of all people.

“Fine,” he said, defeated. “Now please sit down, we have other things to discuss.” And now Momo did as she was told, as she got what she wanted, not being blonde. “Dahyun, you have been offered and MC gig at-”

“I’ll take it!” The other guy brought out a piece of paper on which he wrote that down.

“We have practices and promotions and variety shows and concerts coming up soon, are you going to be okay doing all of that?” Tzuyu asked her.

“I’ll be fine. As long as I get to promote our group I’ll be just fine.”

“But-” Momo tried.

“It’s settled, isn’t it?” Dahyun looked to the other guy who gave her a thumbs up.

Momo sighed yet again, knowing that there was nothing to do to convince her. Even if it was bad for her.

Jisung motioned for the secretary to open the door. “That’s pretty much all we had, if you have anything you want to add feel free, otherwise you are free to leave.”

The girls stood out from their chairs and walked out of the room.

“ ‘ _you are free to leave’_ that sounds like we are prisoners,” Momo snickered.

“Tell me about it,” Dahyun agreed.

“You would actually look cute blonde,” Tzuyu joked around.

“Yeah you would!” their leader chimed in.

“Shut it Kim ‘I’m going to die from exhaustion when I reach 25’ Dahyun.” Momo poked her arm.

“Are we going to eat now?” Tzuyu asked.

Dahyun nodded, already looking for her card.

“Count me out,” Momo said as her members looked at her confused.

“Hirai Momo turning down food! That’s a first!”

Momo shrugged. “See you at the dorms?”

“See you!”

Momo left as the other two members went out to grab a bite.

 

 

Jihyo was inside the studio, finishing recording her part for the upcoming comeback while Nayeon and Sana were right outside waiting for their turn. “Is this room even sound proofed?” Nayeon asked as Sana mumbled something towards her. “Because if they were I wouldn’t be hearing those godly vocals from the best singer in the generation.”

“I think they are sound proofed,” Sana bluntly answered while playing on her phone again.

“I know. It’s a joke,” Nayeon said and waved in front of her face, grabbing Sana’s attention for a short while. “I’m the best singer of this generation anyway so I thought it would be obvious.”

“Good one.” Nayeon looked down to Sana’s phone and saw a familiar name flash her screen. Dahyun. She watched Sana decline the call while she put her hand on Sana's thigh and patted her.

“She’s been calling me everyday but I never answer.” Sana explained

“You should.”

Sana shook her head, trying not to mumble her words again.

“I can’t. I’ll just end up running back to her if I let my walls down once again.”

“Would that be so wrong?”

“It’s not what either of us needs.” Nayeon tried hard with grabbing her attention again but all her attempts were in vain.

“What don’t you need? Happiness?” she asked.

“The sacrifices that come with it.”

“But aren’t the sacrifices worth it?” Nayeon tried again, just to get Sana to talk about it.

“I need to get better by myself. Then everything else,” Sana said as she saw Jihyo exit the studio, preparing herself to go in there and shine as she always did.

Jihyo sat next to Nayeon, waiting with her as she always did when she finished first. “What’s up with her?”

“The usual,” Nayeon answered. “You think she is doing the right thing?”

“I hope so.” Jihyo said and offered some water to Nayeon who declined it. “You should drink, it’s good for the throat.”

Nayeon scoffed, the words made her almost throw up. “Stop worrying about my throat!” The constant worries were too much. “ ‘ _you can’t do that’, ‘think about your health’_ I get it Jihyo. It’s just annoying lately.”

“Are you doing the right thing?” Jihyo asked the oldest of the group.

“I always am. Until I am not anymore. Then it’s just slightly less right. Still better than anyone else,” she smirked at the leader.

“Stop hiding behind your narcissism,” Jihyo rolled her eyes.

“Whatever,” Nayeon muttered trying not to yell or raise her voice, after all she felt her throat burning up just from the conversation they were having. She coughed and reached out for the bottle Jihyo had been offering her before as the her friend gave her a side eye and smirked back, knowing it to be better not to push her too much.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been a while yes i'm aware ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> but here it is. what were the parts you liked and what parts did you hate? it looks like Sana is really sticking with moving on from Dahyun and it looks like Dahyun is struggling with it! how do you feel about it?  
> and yes it is 3 am when im uploading again lmao even if i said i won't be doing that again shrug emoji  
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter  
> until next time,  
> rei!


	10. Fine Line Between Love and Hate pt. 2

With the lights shining over them the six member girl group made their entrance to one of the award shows. None of them really cared which one of them was it, but since they had to be there they were certain to have the most fun they could have. Walking the red carpet together, hand in hand, it still felt surreal. Especially with those gowns radiating the elegance they possessed. “Let’s keep walking, girls,” Jihyo said trying to get Nayeon to move without posing for every single fansite she encountered. Few steps more and they had to stop again. “Over here!” One of the photographers yelled for them to notice. “Smile, smile!” the other motioned with their hands. Trying everything in her power to not roll her eyes, Jeongyeon pouted her lips at one and then smiled at the other photographer, both times serving the visuals only a top girl group member could.

As they finally arrived to their seats after bowing to every artist on their way there, the show was about to start. Even though they weren’t performing that night, the company wanted them in attendance since they’ve been nominated for some awards, again. It wasn’t unusual and they usually loved it, Chaeyoung in particular. She was already looking around the venue to spot anyone she could mingle with afterwards. A large group of girls went by them and every single one of them bowed down to greet them while Chaeyoung was looking at them, trying to see if any of them could catch her attention. “You’ve got a girl already, isn’t one enough?” Jihyo giggled at the younger one’s antics. “Why don’t you say that a bit louder so everyone can hear and ruin our careers over it?” She crossed her arms and looked at Jihyo who sat there laughing. “Relax, I’m just messing with you,” she said, “I think they are going to perform later anyway,” she said, talking about the group that Chaeyoung was eyeing before. “I heard they were amazing!” The youngest one was practically bouncing in her seat. “They are rookies, right?” Chaeyoung asked and watched Jihyo nod her head, “I remember those days! Weren’t they amazing?” Jeongyeon and Jihyo both turned to her, both having the same look on their faces, the one that gave out all of the tiredness and insecurities they’ve faced during those days. “You want to say that again?” Jeongyeon asked. “I remember it differently,” said Jihyo. Chaeyoung huffed while shaking her head, not believing how different they viewed the days she still holds dear to her heart. “Just the excitement about everything. Do you remember our first award show? How happy we were to be there? Now look at this one,” she said while pointing at Jeongyeon, “she looks tired of it all.”

“I’m not tired of it, I’m just tired in general,” the older one disagreed. “But it did feel great to be excited about all those things that we now view normal.” She exhaled the breath she’d been holding for a while now and let it come to her. The feelings of not being sure if they were going to make it in the industry. “Look where we are now,” she said with tears in her eyes, “look at what we’ve achieved so far. Having so many fans that look up to us, having each other. It makes me feel… I don’t know exactly…”

“Special?” Jihyo cut in.

“Yes! That this is our normal. That we’ve met each other. But… I would still prefer to be at home sleeping right now.” Jeongyeon shrugged and got a chuckle out of the two and Nayeon, who was sitting next to her, listening to their conversation.

“Could you imagine if we had a day off to just lay around and watch tv?” Jeongyeon imagined her fantasy as she sank down in her seat and leaned her head against it. She closed her eyes and the warm feelings came back to her. The freedom to do what she wanted, not having to follow a schedule, just a day where she could spend it however she wanted, with her favourite girls right beside her.

“We should totally do that!” Chaeyoung exlaimed. “Why don’t we just skip practice tomorrow and watch a movie together? We haven’t done it in years!” she pleaded with Jihyo as she looked at her with her big puppy eyes.

“I don’t know about that,” the leader scratched her head and looked at all of the members of the group, “we could get in a lot of trouble.”

“I’m in,” Nayeon joined in the conversation. The smirk on her face made Jeongyeon chuckle as she too turned towards Jihyo to plead.  
“We could also invite the F.A.I.R.Y. girls,” Chaeyoung suggested.

Jihyo shook her head. “What would we say to the company?” She bit her lower lip, stopping herself from saying they’re skipping the practice. Even though she wanted it. She wanted to rest, to spend time with the girls. “It just wouldn’t be smart to do it,” she said with a hitch in her breath.

“The company basically own us one after we went on tour with F.A.I.R.Y. . I’m sure it won’t be too big of a deal,” Nayeon said.

“You know what,” Jihyo started, almost jumping up from her seat, “let’s be rebels for a day!” Jeongyeon lifted her fist up in the air where she met Chaeyoung for a fist bump. “But starting tomorrow! I don’t want any funny business today, got it?” Jihyo giggled while looking at Nayeon. “Why are you looking at me? I’m always on my best behaviour?”

“I just know you were already thinking about something.”

Nayeon giggled. “Only good things went through my head,” she said as she looked at Jeongyeon. And Chaeyoung. And then Jihyo and Mina and Sana. Those girls were here solace. They were each other’s peace.

The six of them sat there, Chaeyoung leaning on Jihyo’s shoulder, while Jeongyeon and Nayeon bickered about the lights, no about the stages, well who even knows what they bickered about this time, to be honest neither of them probably knew either. The lights went out and the ceremony was about to begin. Opening it all was a performance from a smaller boy group. They were all wearing white and looked graceful as ever.

“That guy was in our class!” Chaeyoung said, pointing at the tall guy with purple hair, “With Tzuyu and I.”

“How do you even know that? It’s not like you actually went to school,” said Jeongyeon as Chaeyoung’s screech pulled her away from her meaningless conversation with Nayeon. Chaeyoung shook her head. “Let’s just watch them. I hope he does good.”

The six of them were trying to focus on the performance.

 

Suddenly, Sana’s phone went off, her ringtone being loud enough to earn her stares from the groups around them, yet she was quick enough to turn it off before any camera could pick up on it.

“What’s that all about?” Mina asked as she was close enough to Sana to see it.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” said Sana while trying to act as if she was completely focused on the performance. Her breathing fastened as she knew eyes were on her now that she cause a smaller commotion. “You shouldn’t have brought your phone here.” Mina sighed as she glanced at Sana who hurriedly put her hand in front of Mina’s mouth to keep her quiet. “I said I turned it off,” she whispered, looking around the venue to be met with looks of people that were clearly bothered by their loudness.

“I don’t believe you did,” Mina said, pointing at her phone. Sana shot her a look that probably could kill someone other than her and as she saw what Mina was pointing at her heart began racing faster. She could feel every beat, her hands trembled before she was able to grab the phone.

“Just turn it off already,” Nayeon jumped in and took the phone herself. She looked at the screen _Dahyun._ She turned off Sana’s phone and looked at her as she returned it.

“Why do you even have it with you?” Mina quickly said while both Sana and Nayeon tried to quiet her down. Sana puckered her lips before she licked them. “I-”

“You just wanted to see if she would call again,” Nayeon finished it for her. Sana looked at her for a second before her gaze dropped. She gave her a small nod, one you wouldn’t notice if you hadn’t already expected her answer, and she tried focusing back on the performance in order to avoid a further conversation.

“Give me the phone and stop obsessing over it,” Mina demanded the phone and Sana obliged. She knew Mina had good intentions and that it would only cause her more harm if she continued asking for at least a little bit of Dahyun’s attention. But who could blame her, if that was the thing she wanted the most. After all that time.

“I think you should call her back,” Nayeon said.

“Don’t you even think about it!” Mina shot that idea down.

Sana shook her head, quickly looking around if anyone was paying attention to them. She sighed and kept her voice low. “I’m not going to answer it and I for sure am not going to talk to her.” She kept her arms crossed, her eyes still focused on the stage, her heart still beating fast. “I don’t even know what she wants.”

“There’s only one way to find out Sana,” Nayeon said while tugging on Sana’s arms. “Call her back.”

Sana dropped her arms on her seat, accidentally hitting her legs while doing so. “I should, shouldn’t I?” she said, completely forgetting to whisper. That made her earn some more looks, which made her heart beat even faster.

“Don’t call her back,” Mina said, with a hint of annoyance in her voice, she sighed as she shook her head. She turned towards Sana and Nayeon. “Are you crazy?” Sana and Nayeon both looked at her and quickly nodded before Nayeon started convincing her again. “What if it’s something important?” she said to both Mina and Sana.

“Like something about the collab!” Sana said to Mina, trying to convince her. “Then she can call Jihyo for that.”

Nayeon giggled knowing how stubborn Mina was and how Sana was the one that could easily match her stubbornness.

“Can you three keep it down?” Jihyo tried quieting them as she leaned over to whisper. “We’re trying to watch the thing.”

“No! Let them talk,” Jeongyeon jumped in the conversation, “That’s the only thing keeping me awake right now.”

Nayeon pushed her two friends out of the conversation and tried talking to Sana again. “Just try it.”

“I don’t want to hear it anymore,” Sana said, “we’re just coworkers now. I’ll call her back to see what she wants and that’s it.”

“That’s fine with me,” said Mina who gave her back her phone.

Both Nayeon and Sana looked at her, completely amazed by what was going on inside her head. “Not right now, Mina, we’re in the middle of the award ceremony, I can’t be calling up my exes with all the cameras in our faces.” So she put her phone back into her purse, cautiously so it wouldn’t break any more than it had already been. She took a deep breath as she readjusted her sitting position and looked over the crowd that paid no attention to her. A small smile appeared on her face as she huffed out the air inside her lungs and watched the ceremony until the very end.

 

The rain was pouring the morning they woke up. All six of them turned of their alarm clocks and phones as soon as Jihyo texted their managers they aren’t coming to the practice. They made a plan and they planned to stick to it. Their schedule for the day was quite easy to remember. Sleep in, wake up when you want to, eat some delicious food you worked hard for and watch a couple of movies together. They called it a group bonding day.

Jeongyeon was the first one to wake up, the hair all rumbled up in front of her face couldn’t prevent her smile to be seen as she remembered she had absolutely nothing to do for the day except rest. Something she, as well as the others, had been craving for the longest of times. She went to the bathroom and as she passed the mirror and saw her bare face with pillow marks all over it, she chuckled. She walked right by it as she simply couldn’t be bothered with it. After all it was a do-whatever-you-want kind of a day. The taste of freedom hit her like the cold air rushing through the open window from the kitchen in which she was sitting. She put out a pan from beneath the kitchen counter and stared at it for a quick second before she decided to put it back and instead went for the leftovers from the fridge. She sat down at the table to eat, something she usually had no time for as she was always in such a hurry. The wind messed up her hair even more but the smile on her face stayed the same as she listened to the cars passing by and the footsteps of the people hurrying their way to work. She sat there and listened to the snores coming from the bedrooms. All of it sounded so quiet, so peaceful.

But it didn’t last long. The door from her bedroom opened and the snores stopped. Jeongyeon turned around to see Nayeon stomping over to her with her eyes still completely shut. As she opened her mouth to greet her, Nayeon raised up her hand to stop her and started mumbling words that didn’t really sound like words, more like air coming out of her throat, trying to clear space for actual words that could be understood. She walked over to Jeongyeon and sat in her lap, hugging her as the other girl, confused yet delighted, hugged back. Still, it was silent. And peaceful. “I hate mornings,” Nayeon muttered. She sat at the chair next to Jeongyeon and took some of the food the girl brought for herself. “I see you’re not feeling like eating healthy food today,” she said as she smirked at her. “I don’t really care about that today,” Jeongyeon said and she watched Nayeon observe her appearance. “Or that,” she said pointing at her face. Nayeon smiled, for the first time that morning. “You rarely care about things like that, though. How you’re perceived and looked at, I mean.” Her hand moved Jeongyeon’s hair away, revealing her stunning face, almost as if it worked on it’s own. “That’s what I like about you.” Jeongyeon rolled her eyes at that statement and slightly pushed her of her lap. Nayeon, while acting offended, sat across the table. Her hand hovered over Jeongyeon’s plate and just as if it was about to touch it Jeongyeon smacked it away. “Not today!” Nayeon retreated by slouching and pouting at Jeongyeon. Her lips puckered as her eyes almost looked glossy, as if she was about to cry. With her fragile voice she whispered, “I really wanted us to eat together once.” Jeongyeon rolled her eyes again. She was used to Nayeon pretending to be cute or wounded or extremely hurt to get what she wanted. And she was used to giving in to her requests, what can I say, she just had a soft spot for the girl. But she would never admit that to anyone. Jeongyeon moved the food closer to the middle of the table and nodded to Nayeon who already had her hands all over it.

“I see you finally found the shirt again,” Jeongyeon said as she pointed at Nayeon’s stripped shirt. “I thought you said it was to ugly for you to wear outside?”

“I’m doing laundry, okay, don’t judge me,” Nayeon said as Jeongyeon just shook her head.  
For a minute it seemed like everything was like it was supposed to be. Joyful, yet peaceful. Surprisingly, the two girls stayed silent for the whole majority of the meal, the only sound being the two of them chewing on their food. And occasionally fighting over the piece they wanted. “This one was mine!” Jeongyeon shouted under her breath, so they wouldn’t wake the others. Partly because she wanted the other members to sleep as long as they wanted for once and get their well deserved rest, but part of her just wanted this to never end. To be just the two of them, quietly eating and sharing looks only they knew what meant. She slapped Nayeon’s hand away before she could grab the piece they were fighting for. “I had it first!” Nayeon objected. Jeongyeon waved her hand at her and scoffed.

“I saw it first!

“I wanted it first!” Nayeon tried grabbing it again and just as before Jeongyeon slapped her hand away.

“That doesn’t even make sense. I started eating it first, you just woke up.”

“I was born before you! What if I spent all my early childhood before you were born dreaming about a piece of meat just like that? Did you even think about my feelings?” Nayeon grabbed the piece while Jeongyeon was too distracted with shaking her head at Nayeon’s antics. Again.

“Let’s just share it,” Jeongyeon said as she was trying not to giggle. Nayeon halved the piece of meat with her bare hands, almost as if she was trying to impress Jeongyeon, who, to be fair, actually was impressed by it. She kept one half for herself and the other one was still in her hand. She started slowly moving it towards Jeongyeon, as if she was teasing her. Jeongyeon reached her hand out and just as Nayeon was about to place it in her palm she quickly took it away and put it in her mouth. She smirked and looked at Jeongyeon. She had this mischievous look in her eyes that she kept looking her with the whole time while slowly chewing and enjoying their food. Jeongeon sighed, she didn’t want to break eye contact so she just looked at her with her eyebrows slightly lifted, the exasperated face said it all. “You’re stupid,” she said.

“Thank you,” Nayeon said as she handed her the half that she hadn’t eaten. Jeongyeon rolled her eyes and took it. It was like that between that. It had always been. Teasing and insulting each other. Just friendly banter. Just their way of showing love for each other. It gave off a sense of comfortableness. They didn’t have to constantly say how great the other was, they knew the amount of respect and admiration they had for each other. Plus insults were funny. Sometimes. And sometimes Nayeon thought that Jeongyeon failing at being funny was funny in itself. And quite adorable. But only sometimes.

“How are you feeling?” Jeongyeon asked, breaking the silence between them. “Amazing,” Nayeon said with her mouth full, almost spitting pices of chewed food on Jeongyeon, “I can do whatever I want today! Isn’t that amazing?” Jeongyeon nodded, of course, feeling the same way, yet not satisfied with the answer she was given. “I was talking about the whole thing with your voice.”

That was a question Nayeon was trying to avoid. She kinda knew how she felt. Scared, yet admitting that was even scarier. But it was Jeongyeon asking. And Jeongyeon always had her back, always had her best intentions on her mind.

“I’ve been better,” was all that she said. And it was true, she had been better. She had also been worse, but she wasn’t going to focus on that. It was in the past, no need to dwell on that. “My throat doesn’t hurt as much anymore.” Jeongyeon nodded as she looked into her eyes. They were full of worry and she saw right past Nayeon trying to keep a smile on, she saw right through all of that and felt the things Nayeon was worrying about. She smiled at her, took her hand and gently squeezed her to comfort the girl. “What if I can’t sing anymore? What if I completely lose my voice.” Jeongyeon caressed her hand with her thumb. “You’ll still be the same person. You know, the one that the whole nation loves,” she said. “They’ll probably love you even more if you were quiet.” Nayeon chuckled. She greatly appreciated Jeongyeon’s attempt at humoring her. “Besides, you- we,” she said as she firmly nodded her head, “ we are going to do everything so that doesn’t happen. That means you have to rest more, properly warm up your voice and just please stop screaming just because you want to.” Nayeon smacked her, trying to pretend that it didn’t make her laugh, but at the end she failed and her loud laugh echoed over the room.

“Thanks for having my back,” she said softly.

“Always,” Jeongyeon said, still looking at the girl, “who else is going to have it? You’re pretty lame you know.”

And Nayeon smacked her again. This time prompting another session of bickering between them. And sadly for the others, they were loud enough to have managed to wake them up.

 

“Should we watch a movie?” Mina asked as she sat on the old couch they had in the dorm since forever. The question got no response as all the others are far too busy with doing absolutely nothing. Nayeon was laying down on the floor, staring at the ceiling, her mind occupied with all the shapes she can find in the stained surface. She wasn’t the only one, Sana and Chaeyoung joined her on the floor, god knows doing what. Jihyo was sat on the stool near the table, looking absent, wondering perhaps. Her eyes were shifting from one place to other as she tapped her fingers on her thigh. “Jihyo?” Mina startled her friend who quickly gazed over in her general direction. “Movie?” she asked again.

“Yeah, sure. Pick whatever.” Jihyo answered.

“Are you okay,” Mina asked.

“Worried.” Jihyo said, her gze as still as before. She sighed and looked up. “I just have a bad feeling.”

“About us skipping practice?” Chaeyoung asked.

“It’s not going to be a big deal,” Nayeon shrugged her shoulders, “At most we’re just going to be yelled at.”

Jihyo nodded and breathed out, slightly relieved, yet she couldn’t shake the weird feeling she was getting. “So, movie?”

Jihyo and Jeongyeon joined Mina on the couch as the latter started playing the movie, Nayeon and Chaeyoung were underneath the couch, still on the floor.

“Oh! We’re watching a movie already? Am I late?” Sana jumped into the room and plummeted herself on Jeongyeon’s lap.

“Yes! Now get off me!” Jeongyeon said as she tried to push Sana off, but she wouldn’t bulge. After a few more tries, Sana gave up on sitting on her lap and chose to lay across all the three girls who were sitting on the couch. Jeongyeon rolled her eyes as Sana motioned Mina to play with her hair. And Mina happily obliged. It was just like they wanted it to be. Peaceful. Uneventful. Boring, you may say. It was something different, something they all craved. even with Nayeon replying to the characters in the movie and Jeongyeon making fun of her for it and the loudness they displayed during some parts.

Nayeon shifted herself and looked over to the girls on the couch, her gaze fixated to Mina and Sana cuddling. “Looks like you need a new cuddle buddy,” she said directed at Chaeyoung who just shook her head as she moved closer to Nayeon.

“Don’t you already have a cuddle buddy though?” Jeongyeon teased her and Jihyo laughed along with it.

“Yeah, how’s that going?”

“We’re not together. We’re just enjoying ourselves. For now at least.” Chayeoung quickly answered hoping for the answers to stop coming. But they didn’t.

“Are you planning to do something about it or do I have to intervene?” Nayeon joined in on the teasing.

“Like you could get her a girlfriend when you can’t even get one yourself,” Jeongyeon scoffed and immediately felt Nayeon’s arm hitting her. She winced in pain, overly exaggerating how strong she hit her. As Jihyo saw that unfold she wanted to get in between and tell them to knock it off, but not today, today was her day off so she couldn’t be bothered. She just let them be.

“I’m not planning anything currently, but we’ll see where it goes. You know, just going with the flow and all that jazz,” said Chaeyoung trying to stop the bickering. Trying.

“She must be lucky to have such a romantic person in her life,” Sana added, half joking, and Chaeyoung just shrugged. “I swear, Momo doesn’t tell me anything anymore,” she said, again half joking.”

“Like you’re not keeping secrets from her,” Mina commented underneath her breath, yet still loud enough only for Sana to hear.

The rest of the movie went the same, Nayeon talking to the movie, Mina occasionally telling her to be quiet and Jihyo minding her own business. They were having fun. More than they had in a while. They loved performing, but sometimes they just missed those simple things, like being able to take a day off and enjoy your life. Eveything was going on so fast they felt like they weren’t catching up to life, like they were missing out on so many things. It felt nice to have a reminder that they could still enjoy those things even with the whole fast paced requirements the industry demanded from them.

Suddenly, Sana’s phone started going off. She quickly got off from the couch and almost sprinted to get it.

“I thought we said no phones,” Jeongyeon said and Chayeong nodded in agreement. Sana ignored them. Jihyo pretended she didn’t know who was calling as Mina and Nayeon exchanged looks, fully knowing there was no way that was the last call she was getting.

Sana declined the call without looking at the caller ID. She didn’t have to, she knew immediately who was calling her.

They returned to the movie and as the other girls paid attention to the story, Sana’s mind was still on the phone. Every now and then she would glance in that direction to see if it would ring again.

And it did. Just a couple minutes later she got up again.

“Why didn’t you just turn it off?” Chaeyoung asked.

“She’s not going to stop calling, Sana,” Nayeon said. Sana was aware of that. Maybe she was hoping just for that. She took her phone and left the room. She looked at the number. She still remembered it.

There was a moment where she actually thought about what to do. Her phone in her hand, her mind on the person calling. She wasn’t sure she wanted to talk to her. What would she even say to her? She knew she just needed to hear her voice. But she didn’t want to. She paced around the room, thinking about what to do. And the call stopped. She immediately frowned and dropped her hand, almost put the phone in her pocket when the phone rang again.

This time she didn’t think twice about it. She answered the phone and stayed silent.

“Sana?” Dahyun said, as if to ask if the other girl really answered. A couple of second passed.

“Sana?” Dahyun said again, “ Are you there?”

“Yes.” She could hear Dahyun’s sigh through the phone, not really sure if it was out of relief.

“I know you don’t want to talk to me-”

“Good,” Sana interrupted as she heard Dahyun gulp.

“Look, I just need you to come to practice. I heard you guys are not coming but the instructor needs the two of us.”

Sana was torn. They decided they weren’t going so she shouldn’t be going. But on the other hand, Dahyun needed her.

“We’re having a relaxing day together with the girls, I can’t just leave,” she said.

“Please Sana. It’s urgent and I- I can’t do this without you.”

So it was decided. Dahyun needed her.

“I’ll be there.”

 

“You can’t just leave!” Jihyo said to her as she was getting dressed, “This is a group event and we’re not a group without you.” Sana shook her head. “I have to go, it’s urgent.”

“What’s going on?” Mina asked, peeping into the conversation.

“Sana is bailing on us,” Nayeon informed her and the group.

Sana looked at her. “How did you- You know what? I’m not bailing, I’m just needed somewhere else. I’ll be back as soon as a I can though.”

“I’m still not liking this,” Jeongyeon said.

“You don’t have to, I’m still going,” Sana said and stormed out of the dorms.

 

 

 

 

“Sana! Thank you for coming,” Dahyun said as Sana dismissed her completely. She looked around the room, only seeing Dahyun and Ms. Kwon.

“Is it only the two of us?” she almost whispered. Dahyun nodded. “Apparently they’ve made some changes to the choreography and it features us. Momo and Tzuyu were told they get to rest after Twice, you guys, said you weren’t coming. But I had to come in to practice. And I couldn’t do it without a partner, without you.” Sana scoffed at that word. _Partner._

“Let’s just get to work,” she said.

It was as if the whole room fell silent. The air felt suffocating, the bounce in their steps heavier than usual. As if they were afraid. Of what was going to happen. Of each other. Neither of them wanted this. The uncertainty of not knowing what was appropriate. It was way too much for them.

“We’re going to be working on the bridge part. On the third beat, as Tzuyu and Jihyo are harmonizing you two get to be front and center and get a to show off your chemistry with this dance,” Ms. Kwon said.

“But we barely have any chemistry!” Dahyun quickly noted as she turned around so she wouldn’t see the eye roll she was sure Sana was giving her, but what she missed was Sana nodding her head with a frown on her face and her gaze stuck on the floor.

“Dahyun,” Ms. Kwon continued, “at the beginning you’re standing behind Sana, who is bend down, on her knees. As the note progresses, you slide your right hand down her left shoulder.”

Dahyun nodded.

“Sana, as she does that you lift your head up and look at her.”

Sana and Dahyun looked at each other. For a brief second as the eye contact was unbearable. This was going to be uncomfortably intimate.

“Let’s start it. Get in your positions.”

The girls obliged. As said, Sana was on her knees. The song started playing and she could feel Dahyun standing behind her. It felt like her skin was burning. Then Dahyun’s hand moved down her shoulder and she felt herself being unable to move as she enjoyed the sensation of the touch.It was short and quick but Sana didn’t mind that one bit. One second more and she was sure every inch of her body would combust. It wasn’t how she used to touch her. Full of love and passion. The touch was shaky and barely there. And Ms. Kwon noticed that too.

“You have to put more effort into the touch Dahyun. She will not break if you touch her.” But Dahyun wasn’t so sure of that.

So they tried again. Dahyun slid her hand down her shoulder, this time her touch was more firm. She looked at Ms. Kwon who shook her head and motioned her to repeat it. She tried again.

The music started.

First beat. Dahyun thought about the ways one simple touch can hurt. If she touched her too strongly she might get a bruise on her shoulder. If she touched her too softly she’d get hurt with a disapproving look from their instructor. And if she touched her like she wanted to she might her the two of them as a simple touch can mean so much more than just a simple touch.

Second beat. Sana thought about the ways Dahyun used to touch her. How there was a time their hands just found each other. How it used to feel having Dahyun’s hands on her body. It felt nothing like it felt that moment. It used to gave her a sense of security, a sensation in her body, sending sparks down her spine. Now it holds a different meaning. The uncertainty of their futures. Or their future. The future they saw back in the days was different from the one they were headed to now.

Third beat. There were no more thoughts to be thought. The calming melody of Tzuyu’s lower tones carried them as Dahyun let herself to let go of any worries. In the end, there was nothing going on, it was just a song, just a dance practice. And a touch is just a touch. Right? As Jihyo’s higher harmony elated them into ecstatic feel Dahyun’s hand traveled down. As it was supposed to. She touched her shoulder first with her fingers and as she moved it lower and lower her palm traced the entirety of Sana’s collarbone. She touched every inch of that surface with care. Softly, yet not too soft. It felt natural. It was natural enough for Sana’s body to send shivers down her spine.

The touch still held a bunch of uncertainties and yet it seemed like there was at least one thing that was certain. The music softened and right on cue Sana lifted her head to meet Dahyun’s gaze. Looking into her eyes, it still felt uncomfortable. But the softness which Dahyun was looking her with was just as soft as in the past. She blinked a couple of times but never dropped her gaze away from Dahyun, who felt the way Sana’s breath hit her jaw. She felt it all over her body. But a touch is just a touch. And a look is just a look. No matter how soft…

“Okay, that was good,” Ms. Kwon interrupted their moment, “let’s move to the next part.”

Sana dropped her gaze, looked at the teacher and immediately stood up. As if nothing happened, she nodded. She avoided Dahyun’s eyes, even though she felt they were searching for her.

“Sana stands up and as that happens Dahyun steps back. You two look at each other and Dahyun leaps into Sana. Got it?” The instructor summarized the choreography. “Sana you have to catch her as she jumps!”

The girls nodded. The second part almost went smoothly. Sana got up and Dahyun stepped back. Perfectly synchronized, as if their chemistry had never been affected. As if there were no problems between them. Sana spun on her heels, but she did it too fast so she stumbled and fell flat on her ass. Dahyun, concerned, jumped to her help, gave her a hand to lift her up. But Sana rejected her help and got up on her own.

“That was good. Up until the fall. Try it again,” the instructor said bluntly.

Sana stood up again, listening to the nostalgic melody of the song. And Dahyun again stepped back at the right time. Sana took a deep breath. Her hands were shaking. She turned around, softly. Her hair moved along, whipping just enough to lightly hit her face and stick there. Her hand reached to her face to move away from her eyes as she looked at Dahyun.

Sometimes the stars are just stars. Objects floating in space. And sometimes they line up perfectly, creating that special moment that drills itself into your brains, not ever leaving your mind. For Sana, that moment came when Dahyun looked at her, just as she used to when things were good between them, taking her back into that time. In those brief seconds, she was taken back to the start, when she first had a moment like that. Time where they worried about when they would be able to see each other again, When they longed for each other’s touch. When they fell asleep talking about dolphins and movies and what to eat the next morning. When they were uncertain if they would make it in the industry and not about each other. A time when neither of them were idols, both just trainees chasing their dreams. Back then when she heard Dahyun laugh for the first time. A sound that sent shivers down her spine and blood pumping to her cheeks. And as she looked at her now, she quickly realised that sometimes stars are just stars, but she was pretty sure Dahyun’s eyes were made of them.

She was frozen in place, her lips slightly parted. Her gaze was still stuck on Dahyun who looked at her with the same intensity. She took the first step and leaped off the ground into Sana. It felt like she was in the air for the longest time. At least for Sana it did as she was still unable to stop looking at her and the way her hair flew, the way her skin still glowed.

Dahyun jumped straight into Sana, who in the midst of all the admiring forgot to catch her. The two of them fell to the ground. Dahyun laid on top of Sana who pushed her off and started grabbing her ankle. The scream of agony pierced through Dahyun’s ears. She looked at Sana laying on the ground, crying. Dahyun crawled to Sana. “What’s wrong? Does it hurt?” she asked pointing at her ankle. Sana nodded as Dahyun ran her hands through her hair. She put her hand on her shoulder, squeezing it tightly, but not too tight. “It’s going to be okay.”

Ms. Kwon ran towards them, worried. “Let’s get you to the hospital, okay?”

 

 

 

The people walking around, children whispering to their parents, all of the noises from the machines made Dahyun nervous. A doctor started walking in their direction and Dahyun instinctively stood up and watched her walk right past them. She sighed heavily.

“Relax, it’s just a leg injury, she isn’t dying,” Momo said and chuckled. Dahyun lightened up and sat back down.

“How are you doing?” She asked her.

Momo shrugged. “I thought it would be easier when I’m not the one injured but I guess hospitals just aren’t my place.” She offered Dahyun a warm smile. She knew how stressed Dahyun was the last time someone she cared about was here.

“I’m glad you’re here with me,” she said, “I’m just so angry at myself that I injured her.” She couldn’t help but feel guilty. Just like when Momo was here, everything felt like her fault.

“I’m glad I’m here too. Well no, I mean I wish this wasn’t happening but you know what I mean.” That got a chuckle out of Dahyun. She felt uneasy in her seat. Her hands were tapping the chair rhythmically, making a sound more annoying than all the machines in the waiting room. She could feel her breath getting sharper and her teeth gritting.

Momo kept looking at her, knowing that there were things that needed to be discussed between them. But was now an appropriate time? When, if not now, at least she cold distract Dahyun from the terror she was feeling.

“Why didn’t you tell me about you and Sana?” she asked her.

Dahyun looked up. Then down again, her gaze dropped as she stopped tapping her fingers. “I guess I just didn’t want you to hate me too,” she said and briefly looked up to meet Momo’s eyes.

“You could have told me, we were friends. We still are but we are much more than that now.”

Dahyun shook her head. “Would we still be if you knew back then?”

“I’m glad you two had each other and were important to each other. But what happened between the two of you is between of you,” Momo said, sitting next to Dahyun. She put her hand on her leg, reassuring her. “We would be able to move forward. Just as I hope the two of you will be.”

It was easier said than done, but Dahyun knew she wanted to try. There were few thing more important to her right now than fixing her past mistakes. Not when they cost Sana her health. And their friendship.

“I just can’t believe every time I’m in the hospital there is some kind of talk about our relationship,” she said, air quoting the word relationship.

Momo had a puzzled look on her face. “What do you mean?”

“I broke up with her when you were here,” Dahyun said, “I thought you knew about that?” And Momo shook her head. “I hurt her Momo, I really did. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you. I was embarrassed for so long for hurting her. For losing her, or letting her go. I didn’t want to lose you too.”

Momo stood up, questioning what was happening. “Did you two break up because of me?”

“No! It was because of me. I did that. It was my mistake.” Dahyun felt the shock over her body as she muttered those words. Her mistake. Was it really a mistake?

“But you did it because you felt guilty? Because of me?” Momo raised her voice.

“Yeah, I guess so…”

“I can’t believe this!” Momo said and sat across Dahyun, just as she did before. Suddenly, a doctor went up to them.

“Are you here for Minatozaki Sana?” They asked as the girls nodded. “She is able to see you now.”

Dahyun stood up and started walking to the room Sana was in. She turned back to their seats, where Momo still waited. “Are you not going.”

“I’ll go after you.”

 

As she started opening the door to the room all those thought run through her head. The feelings of guilt for injuring her, fear of it being a serious injury, still being uncertain on how to act around her. Does she still hate her? Does Sana hate her even more now?

She opened the door as she heard two voices inside the room. Sana was lying on her bed as the other girl was standing over her. The tall brunette Dahyun was certain she saw somewhere. She felt uneasy with the two of them being this close, but she forced herself to not think about that. It was all about making sure that Sana was okay. That was what was important.

As Sana saw her tiny body enter the room, she stopped talking and faced Dahyun. She nodded at her and invited her to come in. “Hey,” she softly whispered.

“Hey,” Dahyun said back.

The two of them looked at each other, and for a second it felt like they were the only two in the room. Like only they mattered. Until Sana felt a nudge between her ribs. “This is my girlfriend-”

“Why are you here?” The girlfriend questioned Dahyun, who was nervous enough without her being there.

“Just checking up on Sana and I-”

“After you brutally assaulted and injured her?” The tone of her voice didn’t match her soft exterior. It felt weird to Dahyun.

“I’m just here to give her these,” she said as she placed the carefully picked out bouquet of lilies down her night stand. Sana looked at them before picking them up and smelling them.

“They are lovely,” she said and Dahyun could swear she saw a smile on her face. Or maybe she was just hoping for one.

“You gave her the flowers, now you can leave,” the girlfriend scoffed. Dahyun nodded and excused herself. Just as she was about to leave she heard the sweetest voice calling for her.

“Dahyun?” Sana said, making her turn around. “Thank you for coming.” Now she was sure that Sana smiled, almost as bright as she remembered her smile to be. She smiled back at her and made Sana’s grin only to grow wider. Sana took the card attached to the bouquet. It smelled like the ocean and on it was handwritten _sorry for hurting you, Dahyun._ She softly graced over it with her fingertips.

As Dahyun left she could swear she hear the sound of a camera so she looked around, but she didn’t see any. So she didn’t feel worried at all. And as she entered the waiting room to tell Momo she could visit Sana, she also wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Maybe the hospitals really weren’t a good place for any of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter, it's been a while. I've had this written before but i wasn't satisfied with it at all so i decided to rewrite it completely lol i guess it didn't feel right because i didn't write it at 2 am  
> yes it is 4am as i am uploading this maybe i should just embrace this as my primetime *shrug emoji*  
> thank you for all the kind comments and encouragements( i do not know how to spell this word )  
> please tell me what parts you liked. what do you think will happen next?  
> hope you enjoyed it! until next time,  
> rei:)


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